Senator Howard Lee’s political career began auspiciously, in 1969 as the first African American mayor of a southern majority-white city, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He never planned to be mayor, running for all intents and purposes as a form of protest against a housing ordinance. Apparently he was quite persuasive, as he not only was elected, but went on to become a state senator, the first African American to head a state cabinet department, a member of the utilities commission, and the first African American chairman of the North Carolina Board of Education. Senator Lee is an army veteran, having served in Korea, and has some incredible stories to share from his 86 years on earth so far.