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Civic and Community Engagement
Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications
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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
From Intent To Effect: Richmond, Virginia, And The Protracted Struggle For Voting Rights, 1965–1977, Julian Maxwell Hayter
From Intent To Effect: Richmond, Virginia, And The Protracted Struggle For Voting Rights, 1965–1977, Julian Maxwell Hayter
Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications
Twelve years after the ratification of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 [VRA], Richmond, Virginia elected a historic majority black city council. The 5-4 majority quickly appointed an African American lawyer named Henry Marsh, III to the mayoralty. Marsh, a nationally celebrated civil rights litigator, was not only the city’s first black mayor, but the council election of 1977 was also Richmond’s first since 1970. In 1972, a federal district court used the VRA’s preclearance clause in Section 5 to place a moratorium on council contests. This moratorium lasted until the Supreme Court and the Department of Justice determined whether …