Topic: Ray Nagin

Clarence Ray Nagin, Jr. (born June 11, 1956) is a former mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Nagin gained international notoriety in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the New Orleans area.

Nagin was first elected on March 2, 2002, to succeed his fellow Democrat Marc Morial. He was re-elected in 2006 but was ineligible to seek a third term in 2010 due to term limits and stepped down from office on May 3, 2010.

Nagin was born on June 11, 1956, in New Orleans' Charity Hospital, to a low-income family. His childhood was typical of that of the urban poor within the city, and his father held three jobs: a janitor at New Orleans City Hall by night, a fabric cutter at a clothing factory by day, and a mechanic at a dairy, to earn sufficient pay to support his family, as well as provide for Nagin's education. His mother was employed at a lunch counter in a Kmart store. The family lived on Allen Street in the 7th Ward, followed by a stay in the Treme, and then moved to the Cutoff section of Algiers when Nagin was a young teenager. Nagin attended O. Perry Walker High School in New Orleans where he played basketball and baseball. He enrolled at Tuskegee University on a baseball scholarship, and graduated with a degree in accountancy in 1978. He was the third college graduate from his family.