Jim Singleton: Conversations about African American Leadership in New Orleans

James Milton Singleton has served the city of New Orleans as an educator, politician, and civic leader, a 24-year member of the New Orleans City Council for District B (19 - 2002) and a founder of the New Orleans political organization BOLD (Black Organization for Leadership Development). He is a veteran of the Louisiana National Guard from which he retired from as a colonel, and he also taught in the New Orleans school system for 16 years before moving into politics. As a city councilor, he was instrumental in the construction of the Central City Senior Citizens Center, Jazzland Amusement Park, the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, and facilitating the re-zoning of the city. In 2002, he left the city council to run an unsuccessful campaign for mayor; however upon Ray Nagin’s election, Nagin sought Singleton’s expertise with city finances. Singleton and his BOLD allies, including BOLD co-founder Ken Carter and his daughter Karen Carter Peterson, were historically aligned in opposition to former Mayor Marc Morial. After Morial’s departure from local politics, Singleton has often lined up in opposition to Progressive Democrats. These dynamics have meant that BOLD, although explicitly the Black Organization for Leadership Development, supports white candidates when expedient, from the BOLD perspective, for the overall good of the African-American community. Singleton has also been on good terms with Republicans such as Governor Jindal, who appointed Singleton to the nine-member Louisiana Gaming Control Board for the Second Congressional District. Singleton is a member of the NAACP and the National Urban League.