High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Clarence Everett Lightner (August 15, 1921 – July 8, 2002) was the first popularly elected Mayor of Raleigh, North Carolina and the first African American elected mayor of a metropolitan (defined as having a population of 50,000 or more) Southern city. Lightner, a Democrat, was also the first and to date only black mayor of Raleigh, serving in office from 1973 to 1975.