The history of what is now Alabama stems back thousands of years ago when it was inhabited by indigenous peoples. The Woodland period spanned from around 1000 BC to 1000 AD and was marked by the development of the Eastern Agricultural Complex. This was followed by the Mississippian culture of Native Americans, which lasted to around the 1600 AD. The first Europeans to make contact with Alabama were the Spanish, with the first permanent European settlement being Mobile, established by the French in 1702.
Jefferson County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Alabama, located in the central portion of the state. As of the 2020 census, its population was 674,721. Its county seat is Birmingham. Its rapid growth as an industrial city in the 20th century, based on heavy manufacturing in steel and iron, established its dominance. Jefferson County is the central county of the Birmingham-Hoover, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Birmingham is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. Birmingham is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2023 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 196,910 down 2% from the 2020 census, making it Alabama's second-most populous city after Huntsville. The broader Birmingham metropolitan area had a 2020 population of 1,115,289, and is the largest metropolitan area in Alabama as well as the 47th-most populous in the US. Birmingham serves as an important regional hub and is associated with the Deep South, Piedmont, and Appalachian regions of the nation.
The council–manager government is a form of local government commonly used for municipalities and counties in the United States and Ireland, in New Zealand regional councils, and in Canadian municipalities. In the council-manager government, an elected city council hires a manager to serve as chief executive; this manager can be replaced by a simple majority at any time.
Theophilus Eugene "Bull" Connor was an American politician who served as Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, for more than two decades. A lifelong member of the Democratic Party, he strongly opposed the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. Under the city commission government, Connor had responsibility for administrative oversight of the Birmingham Fire Department and the Birmingham Police Department, which also had their own chiefs.
District of Columbia home rule is the District of Columbia residents' ability to govern their local affairs. The District is the federal capital; as such, the Constitution grants the United States Congress exclusive jurisdiction over the District in "all cases whatsoever".
"One man, one vote" or "one vote, one value" is a slogan used to advocate for the principle of equal representation in voting. This slogan is used by advocates of democracy and political equality, especially with regard to electoral reforms like universal suffrage, direct elections, and proportional representation.
Richard Arrington Jr. was the first African American mayor of the city of Birmingham, Alabama (U.S.) and the second African American on the City Council. He served on the council for two terms from 1971 to 1979 and was mayor of the city for 20 years from 1979 to 1999. While in office as mayor and on the City Council, Arrington worked to end police brutality, rebuild the city's economy, and promote equality for all minorities. Throughout his political career, Arrington faced racial harassment and multiple investigations by the FBI and IRS for the changes he made to the city. He replaced David Vann as mayor and, upon retiring after five terms in office, installed then-City Council president William A. Bell as interim mayor. Bell went on to lose the next election to Bernard Kincaid.
The Alabama Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is a bicameral body composed of the House of Representatives and Senate. It is one of the few state legislatures in which members of both chambers serve four-year terms and in which all are elected in the same cycle. The most recent election was on November 8, 2022. The new legislature assumes office immediately following the certification of the election results by the Alabama Secretary of State which occurs within a few days following the election.
At large is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population, rather than a subset. In multi-hierarchical bodies, the term rarely extends to a tier beneath the highest division. A contrast is implied, with certain electoral districts or narrower divisions. It can be given to the associated territory, if any, to denote its undivided nature, in a specific context. Unambiguous synonyms are the prefixes of cross-, all- or whole-, such as cross-membership, or all-state.
Bernard Kincaid is an American politician who is the former mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, elected in 1999. In 2007 he was defeated in a bid for re-election, winning only 8% of votes. He was succeeded by Larry Langford.
Mobile v. Bolden, 446 U.S. 55 (1980), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that disproportionate effects alone, absent purposeful discrimination, are insufficient to establish a claim of racial discrimination affecting voting.
The Politics of British Columbia involve not only the governance of British Columbia, Canada, and the various political factions that have held or vied for legislative power, but also a number of experiments or attempts at political and electoral reform.
The Alabama Public Service Commission, commonly called the PSC, was established by an act of the Alabama Legislature in 1915 to primarily replace the State Railroad Commission. The PSC's responsibility was expanded in 1920 to include regulating and setting rates that utility companies charge their customers for electricity. The legislature expanded the PSC's responsibilities in later years to include those companies that provide gas, water, and communications, as well as transportation common carriers such as trucking and air carriers. The PSC effectively determines the rate of profits that most of these companies are allowed to earn. However, some of its traditional responsibilities have passed to the federal government with the passage of the Federal Aviation Act of 1994 and the Federal Communications Act of 1996.
The Alabama Republican Party is the state affiliate of the Republican Party in Alabama. It is the dominant political party in Alabama. The state party is governed by the Alabama Republican Executive Committee. The committee usually meets twice a year. As of the February 23, 2019 meeting in Birmingham, the committee is composed of 463 members. Most of the committee's members are elected in district elections across Alabama. The district members are elected in the Republican Primary once every four years, with the most recent election for the committee having been on June 5, 2018. The new committee takes office following the general election in November 2018. In addition, all 67 county GOP chairmen have automatic seats as voting members. The state chairman can appoint 10 members. Each county committee can appoint bonus members based on a formula that theoretically could add 312 seats, although that formula currently calls for only about 50 seats.
George G. Seibels Jr., was the first Republican to serve as the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama. Seibels was born in 1913 in Coronado, California. He was the son of Rear Admiral George Seibels, Sr., of Montgomery, Alabama, and a great-grandson of George Goldthwaite, former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and a United States senator.
David Johnson Vann was mayor of Birmingham, Alabama.
George B. Ward was the 16th Mayor of Birmingham, Alabama and the owner of the exotic "Vestavia" estate which gives Vestavia Hills, Alabama, its name.
Local government in New Jersey is composed of counties and municipalities. Local jurisdictions in New Jersey differ from those in some other states because the entire area of the state is part of a municipality; each of the 564 municipalities is in exactly one county; and each of the 21 counties has more than one municipality. New Jersey has no independent cities, nor consolidated city-counties.
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