GREENVILLE'S LEADER: As the first female and African-American mayor of the largest municipality in the Delta, Heather Hudson is helping to produce big results for Greenville.

December 2004
Heather McTeer Hudson-
Mayor of Greenville
Striving to make her hometown a better place to live

by CHIP MABRY
DBJ Contributing Writer

Mayor Hudson is a Greenville native. She attended T.L. Weston High School and then Spelman College in Atlanta where she received a B.A. in sociology. She then attended law school at Tulane University in New Orleans where she received her J.D.

Mrs. Hudson also studied agricultural growth and Hispanic culture at the Universidad Caltolica Madre y Maestra in Santiago, Dominican Republic. She spent a summer in Kenya, East Africa with the Africa Crossroads program helping train women in business.

While Mayor Hudson is only 28 years old, her education and life experience have prepared her well. I recently spoke with Mayor Hudson about the past, present and future of Greenville and the Mississippi Delta.

DBJ: When did you first know you wanted to go into politics?
Mayor Hudson: In college I did some work for a state senator in Georgia. That, along with work I did for Justice Banks of the Mississippi Supreme Court, really motivated me. When my husband and I returned to Greenville after finishing college I was really displeased with how the city and area had progressed. My husband and I love this town and we were determined to settle here. It really hurt me to see what was happening to our town with job loss and crime, I decided that I wanted to help my community by getting involved in its government.

DBJ: What do you see as the main challenges facing Greenville and the Delta?
Mayor Hudson: Of course economic development and jobs would be one of the main challenges. The job market has been developing pretty well the last year or two. We really need to attract more attention to our city. We are the largest city in the Delta, and we have great resources. I don’t believe the resources we have are being fully utilized. We have a well-educated and trained workforce that can sustain industry. We also need more retail development. We shouldn’t have to go to Jackson or Memphis to find retail stores that we can support here. Another main thing we really have to work on here is reconciliation. The rest of the state has done a better job of this. I don’t just mean racial reconciliation, but that’s a large part of it. Different socio-economic groups need to be able to work together and respect each other. We really have to work on this. Here’s an example. We are a town of 42,000 and yet we have five high schools. This is de facto segregation. People don’t say it, but it is. We all need to be able to respect each other’s needs and communities.

DBJ: How do you plan to face the job of reconciliation and of strengthening economic development?
Mayor Hudson: Young people. As they go so does the community go. The youth are the key to everything. One thing I always ask young people is “What will it take for you to see yourself living and working in Greenville in the future?” We really have to tune into the youth and address their concerns. I’m not doing this for myself. I want the kids now to be able to go off to college and be able to come back here and have a good life for themselves.

DBJ: What’s your favorite part of the job thus far?
Mayor Hudson: The people. Definitely the people. I can really identify with them. I grew up here and I love this place and the people that live here. There really is no place like the Delta and especially no place like Greenville. I want to show people how special this place is. Related to this is also a hard part of the job. Not long after I took office a city councilman passed away. This really affected me because I had known him my whole life. I’m just glad that a great person replaced him and I believe he would be proud of what the city council is trying to get accomplished now.

DBJ: You know I have to ask, do you have any plans for other political office?
Mayor Hudson: Right now I’m focused on Greenville and making it a better place to live and work. Beyond that I’m concerned with the Delta and its communities. Anything I do in the future will center on this area and making it a better place. DBJ