Earlier this week, Karen Freeman-Wilson was sworn in as mayor of Gary, Indiana. She is the first African American woman elected as a mayor of an Indiana city.
The city of Gary once had a population of 200,000 when it was a thriving hub of U.S. Steel producing parts for the auto industry. Now the population has decreased to about 80,000 people and poverty, crime, and unemployment have plagued the city.
Freeman-Wilson is a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School. She has served as a city judge in Gary, attorney general of Indiana, and as CEO of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals.
