Black women celebrate Detroit's mayor-elect, Mary Sheffield

On Nov. 4, Mary Sheffield became the first woman ― the first Black woman ― to be elected mayor of Detroit. It's a milestone nearly 50 years in the making. In 1977, Erma Henderson, who also served as president of the Detroit City Council, was the first woman to run for mayor here; in 1993, Sharon McPhail was the first woman to make it through a primary, but lost that year to former Mayor Dennis Archer. McPhail ran again in 2005, not clearing the primary.