Dennis Wayne Archer (born January 1, 1942) is an American lawyer, jurist and former politician from Michigan.

[1][2] Dennis Archer was born on January 1, 1942, to a working-class family living on the east side of Detroit.

There were few employment opportunities for disabled people in the city, so the family relocated to rural Cassopolis when Archer was five years old.

[6] After a very successful 15-year career as a lawyer, Archer was appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court by Governor James Blanchard.

[3]  He was only the second black man to sit on that court in Michigan's history, ending a nearly twenty-year period without African American presence.

When Mayor Young dropped out of the race due to illness, he gave his endorsement to Sharon McPhail.

“I stand before you representing the children who are more concerned about surviving the school day... the homeless, the disenfranchised and the working poor who want affordable housing, and a clean and decent place to live”.

[3] He emphasized that he was interested in improving life for all city and suburban dwellers, whether they be black, white, Arabic, Jewish, or Hispanic.

[8] In his first term as mayor, Detroit was selected to house an empowerment zone and received other federal benefits which cumulatively brought $100 million to the city.

Despite the decrease in crime and unemployment during Archer's time as mayor, he was frequently criticized for allegedly not supporting or listening to leaders of the African-American community.

[3] Archer was re-elected by a large margin in 1997 but was subject to a recall campaign in his second term, launched by many of his original opponents.

[10] Upon leaving office as mayor in January 2002, Archer was appointed as chairman of Detroit-based law firm Dickinson Wright, and the board of directors of Compuware.

In February 2008, Archer announced that he was considering running for governor of Michigan in 2010, but ultimately decided not to enter the race the following November.