Lori Elaine Lightfoot

Lori Elaine Lightfoot is a lawyer and politician from the United States who was elected as the 56th mayor of Chicago in 2019. She is the first gay African-American woman to serve as mayor of a major city in the United States. For three years, she was also the chief of the Chicago Police Board (2015- 2018).

Lori Elaine Lightfoot was also noted for being the first openly LGBTQ candidate in the history of the Chicago mayoral elections. The following are ten details about Lori that can help you get to know her better.

Early Life and Education

Lightfoot was the youngest of four children born in Massillon, Ohio. Ann Lightfoot, a nighttime healthcare aide and school board member, and Elijah Lightfoot, a nearby factory worker and janitor, were her parents. She grew up in a predominantly white community on the city’s west side.

Elaine attended Washington High School in Massillon, where she was a trumpet player in the band, sang alto in choir, played basketball as a point guard, volleyball, softball, yearbook writer, and was a member of the Pep Club. She was named class president three times in high school. “Get on the right foot with Lightfoot” was the theme of her campaign for high school class president. In 2013, her high school alumni association honored her as a “Distinguished Citizen.” Lightfoot organized a boycott of her high school’s lunch program over the consistency of the pizza while she was in high school. Her boycott was effective, as the school served more flavorful pizza as a result of her actions. Detention was her penalty for the boycott.

Lightfoot graduated with honors from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1984. Despite her lack of knowledge, she hoped to pursue a career as a systems engineer on the recommendation of her oldest brother. She worked seven different jobs to help pay for her education, including as a resident assistant and a chef for the school’s football team. To help pay for her schooling, she worked in a factory at home during the summers. Brian Lightfoot, Lightfoot’s older brother, was convicted in connection with a bank robbery and the shooting of a security guard when she was an undergraduate.

Private life

Lightfoot lives in Chicago’s Northwest Side’s Logan Square neighborhood. She married, and is still married, to Amy Eshleman, a former Chicago Public Library employee who is now a full-time parent to the couple’s adopted daughter, Vivian, on May 31, 2014. Lightfoot has been a season ticket holder for the Chicago Bears and the Chicago White Sox for the past 20 years. She’s also a season ticket holder for the Chicago Sky of the WNBA. Lightfoot made an appearance on The Second City Presents: The Last Show Left on Earth, a television mini-series. Lightfoot is a Founder Trustee at Chicago’s Christ the King Jesuit High School. She’s a member of St. James AME Zion Church, as well.