In 1983 Mel King changed Boston's political history when he became the first Black mayoral candidate in the city's history to win a preliminary election and run in the general election for control of Boston City Hall. While defeated in the runoff by Ray Flynn, he gathered 30 percent of the general vote and 90 percent of the Black vote. A former five-time elected state representative from Lower Roxbury and the South End, King currently heads MIT's Community Fellows Program. For more than 35 years he and his wife Joyce have been steadfast advocates for community control and improvement in Boston.