Payne, Coy

Coy Payne came to Chandler with his family in the 1940s.  The family settled in the N.J. Harris/Kesler neighborhood of Chandler, and Coy worked picking cotton, delivering newspapers, and other jobs to make money.  He attended the segregated Goodyear School in Chandler, then Carver High School in Phoenix.  Coy attended Arizona State University and became a teacher.  Frustrated at the lack of opportunities for Black people in Chandler, Payne ran for public office, and eventually became the city's and state's first Black mayor, serving two terms in that office from 1990 to 1994.

To listen to a two part oral history interview recorded on December 20, 2002, click on the icons below:

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December 2, 2002, part 1	December 2, 2002, part 2

To read the transcript of an oral history interview recorded on April 25, 2003, click the icon below:

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To read the transcript of an oral history interview recorded on May 16, 2003, click the icon below:

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To read the transcript of an oral history interview recorded on May 23, 2003, click on the icon below:

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To listen to or read the transcript of an oral history interview recorded on August 24, 2004, click on the icons below:

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August 24, 2004 audio	August 24, 2004 transcript

To read the transcript of an oral history interview recorded on December 7, 2005, as part of the Chandler Mayors Oral History Project click the icon below:

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