Maynard Jackson: First African American Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia

The election of Maynard Jackson, who has died of a heart attack aged 65, as the first black mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, in 1973 was a major landmark in the southern US city's history.

It signposted a change of guard in the local political class from white to black; no white person has since been elected mayor. Jackson, who served three terms in office, was a prominent exponent of affirmative action. In his first two terms, he rattled Atlanta's old cosy business relationships, alienating some, but wooing them back in his third term with deft deal-making skills. In 1978, he signed a law requiring 25% of the city's projects to be set aside for minority firms. The policy, which still operates today, made Atlanta the most hospitable place in America for black entrepreneurs. He also pushed through an affirmative action programme that made it mandatory for contractors to take on minority-owned businesses as partners, and forced the city's major law firms to hire African-American lawyers. He threatened that "tumbleweeds would run across the runways of Atlanta airport" if blacks were not included in city contracts.