From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Banks, Charles Wendell
(born: June 25, 1929 - died: June 27, 2003) Charles Wendell Banks was born in Ashland, KY to Lawrence and Flora Johnson Banks. In 1984 he was the first African American elected to the Ashland City Commission and thereafter was continuously re-elected until 1991. Banks had been employed as a manager at Armco Steel Corp. He later became president of Ashland Community College and served for two years. He was also president and board chairman of the Ashland YMCA.For more see "49 blacks serve on city councils," in 1988 Kentucky Directory of Black Elected Officials, Seventh Report, by the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, p. 19; "Two Ex-Mayors Win," Lexington Herald Leader, 11/9/1983, p. A1; and "Wendell Banks, 74, Ashland Civic Leader," Lexington Herald Leader, 6/30/2003, Obituaries, p.B4.