Lee P. Brown Collection

Lee P. Brown served as the first African American Mayor of Houston from 1998 to 2004. During his administration, the city improved infrastructure by creating the first 7.5 miles of it light-rail system, increased citywide transportation services. New sport facilities, were open to attract new visitors and much of the downtown area was revitalized with the construction the Hobby Center for Performing Arts and a convention center hotel. The Brown administration built and renovated new libraries, police and fire stations citywide. Brown initiated a $2.9 billion development program at the city's airport.

Prior to his mayoral tenure, he worked in law enforcement in the San Jose Police Department, Portland State University in Oregon; as the first African American Commissioner in Atlanta Georgia, the first African American chief of police for the city of Houston; the first African American Police Commissioner for the City of New York; appointed by President Bill Clinton to Director of the White House Office of Drug Control Policy.

Brown was born in Wewoka, Oklahoma in 1937 to sharecropper parents Andrew and Zelma Brown. He received a B.A. in criminology from Fresno State University, an M.A. from San Jose State University in the same field. In 1970 he received a Ph.D. in criminology from the University of California, Berkeley.