Mazola McKerson 06/19/2008

Born in Bluff, Oklahoma in 1921. She settled in Ardmore in 1929. In 1946 she began a catering company out of her home. She then operated The Gourmet Restaurant in Ardmore from 1964 to 1997. In 1977 she was elected to the Ardmore City Commission, making her the first African-American and first female to serve on the City Council. In 1979 she became the first African-American female mayor of Ardmore. She was the first chair of the Oklahoma Commission on the Status of Women. She was inducted in the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame in 1997.