Sheila Dixon

1953—

Mayor

Sheila Dixon was sworn in as mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, in 2007, after twenty years of service on the Baltimore City Council. As president of the council, Dixon took over as mayor when her predecessor and longtime political mentor, Martin O'Malley, was elected governor of Maryland. Later in 2007 she stood for election, and won with a stunning 87 percent of the vote to become the first woman ever to lead the city.

Dixon was born on December 27, 1953, and grew up in West Baltimore's Ashburton neighborhood as one of four children. Her father, Phillip, was one of the first successful African-American car dealers in the city. Her mother, Winona, was a committed community activist who was active in the Parent-Teacher Association and served as a Girl Scout troop leader. The Ashburton neighborhood was a mixed African-American and Jewish neighborhood but became increasingly homogenous as Jewish families moved to the suburbs during Dixon's youth. In the changing atmosphere, Dixon recalled an insult by her second-grade teacher, who told Dixon she would never succeed in life. She decided that same day on her future career. "I wanted to be a teacher so that I could make sure that no other children would ever hear that," she recalled, according to a report by Baltimore Sun writer John Fritze in 2007.

Dixon graduated from Northwestern High School in 1972 and went on to Towson University, from which she earned her degree in 1976. She began working for the Baltimore public school system in its alternative education program, helping dropouts complete their general equivalency diploma certificates. After that she became a kindergarten teacher at Steuart Hill Elementary School, but she switched careers in the mid-1980s when a venture she had with some friends—importing purses from Kenya—began to flourish. Eventually she took a job with the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development as an international trade specialist.

Dixon became active in politics in the 1980s, winning a seat on the Baltimore City State Central Committee of the Democratic Party. Several years earlier she had worked alongside her mother on a campaign for a local activist's bid for a seat on the Baltimore City Council in 1978. That politician was Kweisi Mfume, who would go on to Washington and become chair of the Con- gressional Black Caucus. Dixon ran for Mfume's city council seat in 1987, and won. "I was coming into an environment where, at that time, I was the youngest, a woman, when it was a majority white council in a majority African-American city, and it was mostly men," she recalled in an interview with Erin Sullivan for the Baltimore City Paper. Dixon became known for her outspokenness during city council meetings and gained citywide infamy in 1991 when she took off her shoe and brandished it at her council colleagues during a particularly heated meeting. She told them, according to Fritze, the Baltimore Sun writer, "You've been running things for the last 20 years—now the shoe is on the other foot. See how you like it." She later said her anger was a response to a racially biased remark from a white colleague.

Dixon allied with Martin O'Malley, who was elected mayor in 1999, and worked to implement several new initiatives designed to rid the city of its old-fashioned political patronage system. She also stood for and won the post of council president, becoming the first African-American woman to hold the title. When O'Malley was elected Maryland governor in the 2006 general elections, Dixon, according to the rules of the city charter, succeeded him as mayor. In November of 2007, she stood in a general election for mayor in the city and beat out her Republican challenger with 87 percent of the vote.

Dixon earned high marks for her handling of various crises that came up during her first year as mayor. In March of 2007 the city made national headlines when Baltimore police officers arrested a seven-year-old child. The youth was allegedly riding a motorized dirt bike on the sidewalk. Dixon appeared at a press conference the next day and apologized to the child's parents. "Arresting a 7-year-old is not consistent with my philosophy of community policing," she said, according to a report by Baltimore Sun writer Annie Linskey. "I know that many people in the community are outraged at this, it was a bad choice." A few months later, with the city's homicide and violent-crime rates continuing to rise, she asked the police commissioner to resign and hired a replacement in October. She also joined the Mayors against Illegal Guns Coalition, founded in 2006, to eliminate weapons from Baltimore's streets, and she committed resources to a new social-services initiative that aimed to eliminate homelessness in the city by 2017.

A longtime fitness advocate and holder of a black belt in karate, Dixon pushed through a citywide smoking ban that went into effect in 2008 and spurred a similar measure at the state level. "My theme is a cleaner, greener, healthier, and safer city," she told Leaders magazine. "We just put out a promotion through the health department about 10 basic things that families can do to live healthier lives…. We have a whole host of awareness efforts that we're working on relating to diabetes and heart disease. So health is one of the big priorities." Dixon also supported increased funding for treatment and rehabilitation of substance abusers, not jail terms. Her brother was a heroin addict who, along with his wife, died of AIDS-related illnesses. Dixon helped raise their son, Juan Dixon, who went on to play for the Detroit Pistons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Married and divorced twice, Dixon has two children of her own from her second marriage.

In 2008 Dixon's Baltimore was notable for having women in four powerful positions—below the mayor were the city council president, the city comptroller, and the city state's attorney, and all were African-American women. "We're making history with four women who are in the highest positions in the city who will be working together to continue to build on the strengths of the city," Baltimore Sun reporters Fritze and Julie Bykowicz quoted her as saying on election day. "We have a whole host of issues and work to do ahead of us."

At a Glance …

Born on December 27, 1953; daughter of Phillip (a car salesperson) and Winona (a community activist) Dixon; married Mark Edward Smith, 1982 (divorced, 1988); married Thomas E. Hampton, 1988 (divorced, 2006); children: (second marriage) Jasmine, Joshua. Politics: Democrat. Education: Towson University, BA, 1976; Johns Hopkins University, MS, 1982.

Career: Alternative education program and kindergarten teacher, 1976(?)-86(?); importer of purses from Kenya; Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, international trade specialist; elected to the Baltimore City State Central Committee of the Democratic Party, 1986; elected to Baltimore City Council, 1987; elected president of the Baltimore City Council, 1999; became mayor of Baltimore, January 2007; won election to remain mayor, November 2007.

Addresses: Office—Baltimore City Hall, 100 N. Holliday St., Rm. 250, Baltimore, MD 21202-3465.

Sources

Periodicals

Baltimore City Paper, January 3, 2007.

Baltimore Examiner, April 27, 2007.

Baltimore Sun, March 17, 2007; September 7, 2007; November 7, 2007; December 4, 2007.

Online

"Moving Baltimore Forward," Leaders, January/ February/March 2008, http://www.leadersmag.com/issues/2008.1_jan/dixon.html (accessed March 16, 2008).

—Carol Brennan