Dennis Archer
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Dennis Wayne Archer (born January 1, 1942 in Detroit, Michigan) is a former president of the American Bar Association, and was the first Black American to hold this office. Prior to his election, Archer served as a justice on the Michigan Supreme Court from 1985 to 1993, as mayor of Detroit, Michigan from 1994 to 2001. In his last year as a Michigan Supreme Court justice, he was named "most respected judge in Michigan" by Michigan Lawyers Weekly. As mayor, Archer worked to repair the city's relations with its suburbs and the local business community, which had long been less than cordial, through cooperation with suburban business leaders on their redevelopment plans for the city. Archer was a strong supporter and the catalyst for numerous construction projects in the downtown area, including Ford Field and Comerica Park, new stadiums for the Detroit Lions and Detroit Tigers respectively. He also became president of the National League of Cities during his last year as Mayor of Detroit.
However, as mayor he was never popular with loyalists of preceding Detroit Mayor Coleman Young. Young considered Sharon McPhail (a former member of the Detroit City Council) his rightful successor. In the 1993 race to succeed Young, Archer (who is black) did not win a majority of the black vote. Archer was reelected by a large margin in 1997, but was subject to a recall movement in his second term, launched by many of his original opponents. Archer refused to run for re-election in 2001. Since the election of Kwame Kilpatrick, In October, 2004, he was appointed as legal guardian for civil rights activist Rosa Parks. Archer is also the Chairman of Detroit-based law firm Dickinson Wright.
Archer earned his B.S. in Education from Western Michigan University and taught learning disabled children in Detroit Public Schools from 1965 - 1970. He earned his Juris Doctor from the Detroit College of Law in 1970.
Archer is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans.