Gary, Indiana will be replacing Columbus Day with a holiday representing the late former Mayor Richard Gordon Hatcher. The Gary Common Council approved the move on Wednesday. Hatcher, one of the first African-American mayors of a large, U.S. city, died on Dec. 13, 2019 at the age of 86.

In the late 1960s, Hatcher and Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes were the first Black men to win the mayor’s office in a city with a population of over 100,000. Elected in November 1967, Hatcher first took office in 1968 and served as mayor of the City of Gary for 20 years.