Reed was sworn in Tuesday morning in a ceremony at the Montgomery Performing Arts Centre before an excited, packed house, full of people wanting to witness the event in person.
“Loyalty, faith and perseverance are the pillars that have built this community. Let us mark this day in remembrance of who we are and how far we’ve come. We have a duty to ourselves in this society. This is the meaning of living our creed," Reed said in his inauguration speech. “This is why the son whose parents were not even served in a local restaurant just up the street, and whose father led sit in protests for equal treatment under the law can now take this oath and help write laws that apply equally to all."
The inauguration was switched from City Hall to the MPAC early on in the planning stages because close to 3,000 people were expected to attend. At least 22 mayors from across the country traveled to Montgomery for the swearing in, including Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and mayor of Augusta, Georgia, Hardie Davis.
Tickets to the ceremony were sold out by Monday. People without a ticket watched video feed of the swearing-in from an overflow seating area of the convention center.
"We have a chance to make Montgomery big and bold. Big and bold," said Joe Reed, Steven Reed's father, in a speech before his son was inaugurated. "I”ll say to my son Steven, yes, you’re the leader for the city. You will set the tone. You will really set the image. You’ll be the face with the case. And it’s up to you to set that pace. Set that case. I’m confident that you will do it. I am elated and your mother is there beaming. She deserves to beam."
More than half of Montgomery's population is black. In 1965, activists marched 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery for equal voting rights for African Americans. The city is where Rosa Parks refused to give her seat to a white man in 1955, sparking the bus boycott that started the end of segregation in public transportation.
Still, Montgomery had not inaugurated a black mayor before Nov. 12. Other Deep South cities voted in an African American to the highest office in municipal government years ago.
Montgomery's last three mayors held office for at least a decade. Former Mayor Todd Strange did not seek re-election.
Nine City Council members, including three new members, took their oaths of office Tuesday alongside Steven Reed. Richard Bollinger, Brantley Lyons, Tracy Larkin, Audrey Graham, Cornelius Calhoun, Oronde Mitchell, Clay McInnis, Glenn Pruitt and Charles Jinright were elected to serve the 2020-2024 term in the company of Reed.
The City Council remains made up of four African American council members and five white council members. Of the nine members, Graham is the only woman on the council.
The ceremony was led in prayer by Rev. Ed Nettles of Freewill Baptist Church. The nation's Pledge of Allegiance was led by Reed's sons Joe Klein and Karsten Reed and a close family friend, Miles Glover. Carver High School and Booker T. Washington Magnet High choirs performed at the ceremony. Reed was sworn in by U.S. District Court Judge Myron Thompson.
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