Longtime Chattanooga minister, civil rights advocate and political leader the Rev. Paul McDaniel died Sunday morning, according to a statement released by the Bessie Smith Cultural Center. He was 91.
Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger confirmed McDaniel’s death.
“Reverend McDaniel’s groundbreaking leadership and integrity has had a lasting impact on our community,” Coppinger said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this difficult time.”
McDaniel came to Hamilton County in 1966 to serve as pastor of Second Missionary Baptist Church. In 1969, he and other Black leaders in the Chattanooga area founded the Unity Group, which later helped get John P. Franklin elected as the first Black city commissioner. In the early 1970s, he became the first Black minister to serve as president of the Clergy Association of Greater Chattanooga, and in 1977 he won a U.S. Supreme Court case enabling him to hold public office as a member of the clergy.
The following year, in 1978, McDaniel was elected to the Hamilton County Commission. He held a spot there for 20 years, when he retired, and served as chairman five times.