Written by Tanya Terry
On April 4, the first Black mayor of a major metropolitan city in the United States, Floyd J. McCree, was honored in a way many have been saying was overdue-and it happened in Flint. Mayor Neeley, along with Community Foundation leadership and McCree family members, invited the community to the official unveiling ceremony of the Floyd J. McCree bronze statue on the front lawn of Flint City Hall-and rain and even snow earlier in the day couldn’t stop them from coming.
When McCree was selected as mayor by the Flint City Commission, in 1966, he also made history by becoming the first Black mayor of a mayor metropolitan city in the country!
McCree has been called “the People’s Mayor.” McCree fought for adoption of a fair housing ordinance in Flint, which passed by a margin of only 43 votes. The ordinance allowed Blacks to purchase homes in white neighborhoods. The ordinance also set an example for other American cities to follow.
A slideshow was shown inside of Flint City Hall before the official statue unveiling which showed some of those who supported the ordinance holding up signs which read “separate is not equal” or displayed other messages.
Kyle McCree, Floyd J. McCree’s grandson, talked to the Courier about the work still being done around the city in honor of his grandfather.
“We have the Floyd J. McCree Theater, in Flint, which celebrates arts in the community,” he said. “We have the Health and Human Services building for the county. We also have a scholarship at U of M-Flint named in his honor that supports first generation students from the Flint area that are going to U of M-Flint.”
Kyle McCree continued by saying the statue and the Floyd J. McCree Legacy Fund associated with it will provide more education for Flint. He pointed out private philanthropy and individuals are supporting the statue and doing education around the housing fight and the importance of social justice, which his grandfather fought for in the ‘60s and that is still being fought for in the community today.
Byron McCree, Floyd J. McCree’s oldest son and second oldest child, expressed he felt the day of the statue unveiling was a tremendous day for not only the McCree family, but for the city of Flint.
“Floyd couldn’t do it by himself,” Byron McCree said. “He had a lot of help from a lot of people. They don’t always get the credit they deserve. He never wanted to hog all the limelight. He just wanted to be part of doing what was good for everybody else.”
“There’s no me without a Floyd J. McCree,” said Mayor Sheldon Neeley.
Neeley said the statue unveiling was long overdue.
“I’m so happy we have made this happen here in front of City Hall, making sure that we can make history come to salute,” Neeley added. “Floyd J. McCree is very deserving, and we cannot forget all the strides he made. Now young kids can come downtown and see reflections of themselves in the face of a Floyd J. McCree statue.”
Joe Rundell, who created the statue, also created other statues in Flint. In fact, the Floyd J. McCree statue is his thirteenth.
“All the other 12 are of white people, and I thought: the majority of Flint occupants are Black,” he explained. “I thought that by doing a statue of a Black person it would give the races more of an ownership in it. I hope there are others to come.”
Rundell said he had three statues of other Black individuals at home that he’d started, but he hadn’t received backing from those yet. These statues are of Mateen Ahmad Cleaves-retired basketball player, Morris Russell Peterson Jr.-retired basketball player and Martin Luther King Jr.-minister and civil rights leader.
Rundell said it took him about three and a half months to create the statue; he didn’t get backing for a couple years, and he started the Floyd J. McCree statue himself because he thought there was a need in the community.
