Stone Mountain Mayor Beverly Jones makes history in city burdened by its past

beverly jones stone mountain
Stone Mountain Mayor Beverly Jones stands on Main Street in the city’s central business district. (Photo by Dean Hesse for The Tucker Observer)

Dr. Beverly Jones is the first Black woman elected mayor of Stone Mountain.

It’s a city haunted by ghosts of the Ku Klux Klan and overshadowed by a looming granite monument to men who fought to keep people enslaved.

Jones is quick to note that Stone Mountain Park and the city of Stone Mountain are different. Stone Mountain Park, the most visited attraction in Georgia, is owned by the state. The municipality of Stone Mountain became a city in 1839 and has a population of 6,200 residents, according to the 2020 U.S. Census.