A. Price Woodard ,a local attorney, was a relatively new member of the Wichita City Commission in 1970. Each year during an April organizational meeting, the commissioners selected one member to serve a one-year term as the city’s mayor.

At the time, Wichita was experiencing racial problems that had escalated to rioting in the streets and burnings.

While the custom was for a more experienced commission member to be chosen mayor, the commissioners thought appointing Woodard mayor might help calm the city’s racial storm. So, on April 14, 1970, A. Price Woodard was sworn in as Wichita’s first African-American Mayor. It was the only term he served.