Georgia Legislative Black Caucus

Last updated

The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus is the caucus of African-American members of the Georgia General Assembly. It was established in 1975, and is currently the largest caucus of black state legislators in the country in terms of members.

Contents

History

Prior to the election of Senator Leroy Johnson, fifty-eight black legislators served in the General Assembly from 1868, when the first 33 African-American members were elected, to 1907, when W. H. Rogers resigned. From 1907 to 1962, African-Americans were effectively barred from voting or running in state elections by poll taxes and literacy tests; until 1946, African-Americans were prohibited from participating in the white primaries ran by the Democratic Party of Georgia. However, the impact of the court cases King v. Chapman , Gray v. Sanders, and Wesberry v. Sanders as well as passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 had opened voter registration to blacks resulted in the election of Senator Johnson (1962) as well as the election of the first eight black House members since 1907 in 1965: six from Atlanta (William Alexander, Julian Bond, Benjamin Brown, Julius C. Daugherty, J. D. Grier, and Grace Towns Hamilton) and one each from Columbus (Albert Thompson) and Augusta (Richard Dent). By 1972, fourteen African-American members were serving in the General Assembly when Johnson began convening informal gatherings of the black legislators to discuss issues of importance to African-American members. In 1975, the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus was formally incorporated and first chaired by Rep. Benjamin Brown.

Chairs

Notes

    Related Research Articles

    Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) is a liberal American political organization advocating progressive policies. ADA views itself as supporting social and economic justice through lobbying, grassroots organizing, research, and supporting progressive candidates.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Congressional Black Caucus</span> Caucus comprising most black members of the United States Congress

    The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is a caucus made up of most African-American members of the United States Congress. Representative Karen Bass from California chaired the caucus from 2019 to 2021; she was succeeded by Representative Joyce Beatty from Ohio as chair. The caucus has historically been non-partisan; however, with Republican Representative Byron Donalds being blocked from joining in 2021, that status has been made unclear.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">North Carolina General Assembly</span> Legislative branch of the state government of North Carolina

    The North Carolina General Assembly is the bicameral legislature of the State government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets in the North Carolina Legislative Building in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Illinois Senate</span> Upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly

    The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the Illinois Constitution of 1970, the Illinois Senate is made up of 59 senators elected from individual legislative districts determined by population and redistricted every 10 years; based on the 2020 U.S. census each senator represents approximately 213,347 people. Senators are divided into three groups, each group having a two-year term at a different part of the decade between censuses, with the rest of the decade being taken up by two four-year terms. This ensures that the Senate reflects changes made when the General Assembly redistricts itself after each census.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Sanders</span> American attorney and politician (1925–2014)

    Carl Edward Sanders Sr. was an American attorney and politician who served as the 74th Governor of the state of Georgia from 1963 to 1967.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryland Senate</span> Upper house of the state legislature

    The Maryland Senate, sometimes referred to as the Maryland State Senate, is the upper house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. Composed of 47 senators elected from an equal number of constituent single-member districts, the Senate is responsible, along with the Maryland House of Delegates, for passage of laws in Maryland, and for confirming executive appointments made by the Governor of Maryland.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia Republican Party</span> Georgia affiliate of the Republican Party

    The Georgia Republican Party is the affiliate of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Georgia and one of the two major political parties in the state and is currently chaired by David Shafer.

    The 111th United States Congress, in session from 2009 to 2010, consisted of 541 elected officials from 50 states, five territories, and the District of Columbia. It is the federal legislature of the United States of America, continuing an unbroken chain dating back to the 1st Congress in 1789.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent Fort</span> American politician

    Vincent D. Fort is an American politician who served as a member of the Georgia State Senate for the 39th district from 1996 to 2017. He represented part of Fulton County for the 39th district. His district includes part of Atlanta and East Point. Fort was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2017 Atlanta mayoral election.

    The National Black Caucus of State Legislators(NBCSL) is an American political organization composed of African Americans elected to state legislatures in the United States and its territories.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Nina Turner</span> American politician from Ohio

    Nina Hudson Turner is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she was a Cleveland City Council member from 2006 to 2008 and a member of the Ohio Senate from 2008 until 2014. Turner was the Democratic nominee for Ohio Secretary of State in 2014, but lost in the general election against incumbent Jon Husted, receiving 35.5 percent of the vote. Her politics have been variously described as progressive, left-wing, or far-left.

    Vanessa Lowery Brown is a former Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 190th District. She is a member of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus. In 2018 she was convicted on seven charges related to a bribery case, six of which were felonies. She was sentenced to 23 months probation for her crimes.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Rashad Taylor</span> American politician

    Rashad Jamal Taylor is a political consultant and former politician from Atlanta, Georgia. A Democrat, he served from 2009 to 2013 in the Georgia House of Representatives, representing the City of Atlanta from the 55th House District. He was first elected in November 2008, at 27 years old, making him the youngest serving member of the General Assembly. After re-election in 2010, he was elected Vice Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, the fourth highest ranking leadership position in the House. At 31, Taylor was the youngest member of the General Assembly leadership, House or Senate, Democrat or Republican.

    Leroy Reginald Johnson was an American politician who served in the Georgia State Senate from 1963 to 1975 after winning a seat in the 1962 Georgia General Assembly election. He was the first black state senator to be elected to the legislature in more than fifty years, since William H. Rogers in 1907, and the first to be elected to the Senate since 1874. He served District 38 in Fulton County and Atlanta, a predominantly black senate district created after the elimination of the county-unit system that same year. Before his term as senator, Johnson was an attorney where he played a role in Atlanta's civil rights movement of the 1960s. He was later a candidate in the 1973 Atlanta mayoral election but received few votes, despite being familiar to voters and having an endorsement from The Atlanta Constitution. The position went instead to Maynard Jackson who in turn became Atlanta's first African American mayor.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Vicki Marble</span> American politician

    Vicki Marble is a former Republican member of the Colorado Senate. She served in the state senate from 2013 to 2021.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Raumesh Akbari</span> American politician

    Raumesh Aleza Akbari is an American politician and member of the Tennessee Senate for the 29th district since 2019. She was formerly a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives for the 91st district. She currently serves as First Vice Chair of the Education Committee, and a member of the Commerce and Labor Committee, and the Ethics Subcommittee. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Senator Akbari is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated and The Links, Incorporated.

    Reverend Romulus Moore was a politician and leader of the early civil rights movement after the American Civil War during the Reconstruction Era in the U.S. state of Georgia. An African American, Moore was elected to the state legislature in 1868. Moore was expelled from the legislature in 1868 along with other African Americans and reinstated in the Georgia General Assembly in 1870 by an Act of Congress. Reverend Moore was active in advocating the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

    The "Original 33" were the first 33 African-American members of the Georgia General Assembly. They were elected to office in 1868, during the Reconstruction era. They were among the first African-American state legislators in the United States. Twenty-four of the members were ministers. Upon taking office, white Democrats, then a minority in the Assembly, conspired with enough white Republicans to expel the African-American legislators from the Assembly in September 1868. The next year, the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that African Americans had the right to hold office in Georgia. The expelled legislators were reinstated and took office in January 1870.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">128th Georgia General Assembly</span>

    The 128th Georgia General Assembly convened its first session on January 13, 1965, at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta. The 128th Georgia General Assembly succeeded the 127th and served as the precedent for the 129th General Assembly in 1967.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">El-Mahdi Holly</span> American politician

    El-Mahdi E. Holly is an American politician from the state of Georgia. A member of the Democratic Party, Holly has served in the Georgia House of Representatives for the 111th district.