People Moving the Mountains: Beverly White’s work didn’t stop when she became Mayor

By Traci Phillips

When Beverly White became Lewisburg’s first Black mayor in 2019, she made history in the community she had called home for most of her life. Seven years later, White is still serving Lewisburg, but her work now reaches beyond city limits as she takes on leadership roles connected to communities across West Virginia.

White currently chairs the Region 4 Planning & Development Council, which serves Fayette, Greenbrier, Nicholas, Pocahontas and Webster counties. The council works with local governments on economic development, infrastructure and other projects that can be difficult for smaller communities to tackle alone. She also serves on the West Virginia Municipal League Board of Directors, working alongside municipal leaders from across the state.

Those roles put White in conversations many West Virginia communities are having right now: How do small towns grow? How do they improve infrastructure? How do they attract new opportunities while taking care of the people who already call them home? They aren’t always the issues that grab the biggest headlines, but they affect everyday life in communities across the state.

For White, local government has been a long commitment. Before becoming mayor, she spent 16 years on Lewisburg City Council and was the first Black woman to serve there. She grew up in Lewisburg during segregation and later attended an integrated school, making her eventual election as the city’s first Black mayor an important chapter in both her own story and Lewisburg’s history.

But White’s story didn’t end with becoming the first. She stayed at the table. Today, she is helping make decisions about the future of Lewisburg while also representing her region in larger conversations about development and the future of West Virginia communities.

That is why Black By God: The West Virginian is spotlighting Beverly White as one of our People Moving the Mountains—not simply because she made history in 2019, but because she is still doing the work today.