Keisha Lance Bottoms Saw Her Father Arrested at 8: Now She’s the First Black Woman Elected Governor in the U.S.

The newly elected Georgia governor Keisha Lance Bottoms was 8 when she came home from school to find police officers in her house. They were taking her father, the soul singer Major Lance, away in handcuffs.

Lance, known for the 1960s R&B hit “The Monkey Time,” was charged with cocaine distribution in 1978 and spent three years in prison. Bottoms spent weekends visiting him in prisons across Georgia. At home, she watched her mother, Sylvia Robinson, struggle to make ends meet.

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On November 3, Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor of a U.S. state. The Democrat and former Atlanta mayor defeated Republican health care executive Rick Jackson. She will also be the first woman and the first Black person to serve as Georgia’s governor.

Bottoms graduated from Florida A&M University and earned her law degree at Georgia State University. She worked as an attorney and magistrate judge before winning a seat on the Atlanta City Council. She became mayor in 2018 and led the city through the COVID-19 pandemic and protests over policing. After leaving City Hall, she directed the White House Office of Public Engagement under President Joe Biden.

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