Editing Philadelphia, Mississippi (section)

===First black mayor===
In May 2009, Philadelphia elected its first black mayor, [[James Young (mayor)|James A. Young]], a 53-year-old [[Pentecostal]] preacher and a former county supervisor.<ref name="CNN Young">{{cite news|last=Lavandera|first=Ed|date=May 22, 2009|title=Black mayor of Mississippi town brings 'atomic bomb of change'|publisher=CNN|url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/22/mississippi.black.mayor/}}</ref> He defeated Rayburn Waddell, a white, three-term incumbent, by 46 votes in the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] primary (there was no [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] challenger).<ref name="NYT Young">{{cite news|first=Robbie|last=Brown|date=2009-05-21|title=First Black Mayor in City Known for Klan Killings|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/22/us/22mayor.html|access-date=2017-05-02}}</ref> Jim Prince, publisher of the local ''[[The Neshoba Democrat]]'' newspaper said, "Philadelphia will always be connected to what happened here in 1964, but the fact that Philadelphia, Mississippi, with its notorious past, could elect a black man as mayor, it might be time to quit picking on Philadelphia, Mississippi."<ref name="CNN Young" />  Young's campaign staff credited [[Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign|Barack Obama's presidential campaign]] for increasing registration of black and young voters in Philadelphia, many of whom voted for Young.<ref name="NYT Young" /> His term began July 3, 2009.