Barbara Bohannan-Sheppard

Barbara Bohannan-Sheppard (born June 15, 1950) is an American politician who served as mayor of Chester, Pennsylvania from 1992 to 1995. Bohannan-Sheppard was the first Democrat to be elected mayor of Chester in almost a century and the second female and second African-American mayor of Chester.

Bohannan-Sheppard became mayor when Chester was failing economically, recovering from corruption in city government and experiencing racial strife and a high crime rate. She was a proponent for environmental justice for the residents of Chester but created a major controversy when she hired a male administrative assistant who had been convicted and served several years in prison for rape and murder.