William B. Ingram Born: Died:

Evidence points to William Ingram being one of the most forgotten mayors in Memphis history.  It is hard to find information about Mayor Ingram and even harder to find an article sympathetic to him.

After Henry Loeb left the public arena in the early sixties the city lacked any strong candidate for the office.  Former mayor Orgill would not run again due to his health, so while progressive and segregationists groups remained they were largely without a candidate.  African-American leaders felt they could not elect one of their own at that time, thus into the void stepped Judge William B. Ingram.

Ingram had earned his stripes with the African-American community in Memphis by way of his feud with the Memphis Police Department.  Ingram dismissed about 46% of the traffic violations brought before him.  He began a workmanlike campaign in 1963 taking a small public address system with him to predominately black areas speaking at shopping centers, churches etc. with no visible white support.

As mayor he pleased no one.  He parsed out few jobs to the African-American community, but was still supported by that community largely in his attempt at re-election in 1967.  This was largely due to the stark contrast between Ingram and his segregationist rival, Henry Ford.  Ingram received enough black votes to force a runoff, but was then easily defeated by a large white turnout.

Mayor Ingram began his career with no "estabishment" support and ended his mayoral career the same.  His protestations against reforming the commission-based city government into an Mayor / City Council model brought out true resistance from the old Orgill / Progressive groups, specifically from Lucius Burch and newspaper editor Frank Ahlgren.  Ultimately Mayor Ingram lost the city council fight and the fight for re-election and was little heard from again.