Billy Gene Mills, one of the first Black politicians elected to the L.A. City Council, died on June 27 in his Leimert Park home. He was 96.
In a social media post, his son James Edward Mills wrote that his father had been struggling with failing health for years.
Mills was the first Black American to graduate from UCLA Law School in 1954 and went on to work as a civil rights attorney.
Los Angeles City Council members Gilbert Lindsay (left), Billy Mills (second from left) and Tom Bradley (second from right), pose for a photo with two unidentified men in City Hall council chambers around 1965.
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He was elected to the city council in 1963, representing District 8, and served until 1974. Mills was one of the first three Black men, along with Tom Bradley and Gilbert Lindsay, to join the city council.
While on the council, Mills “led the city to renewed unity and cooperation after the tumultuous Watts Riots,” UCLA wrote in a statement that accompanied a Public Service Award given to him in 2003. His tenure, UCLA noted, saw the installation of paved alleys and streetlights throughout South Los Angeles for the first time.
In 1974, Mills was appointed as a judge to the Los Angeles Superior Court by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan.
Mills is survived by five children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.