Voters in rural Alabama will cast historic votes this November. It’s the first-time residents in the newly redrawn Congressional District two will pick their member of the U.S. House. It took a fight before the U.S. Supreme Court to create the new map to better represent African Americans in Congress. This may sound like a one-of-a-kind event, but it’s not. Back in 1960, the nation’s highest court heard an earlier case on the rights of black voters in that same part of Alabama.
“Number 32 CG, Gomillion and now Petitioner versus Phil M. Lightfoot as Mayor of the City of Tuskegee,” said a U.S. Supreme Court staffer back in 1960.
This is archival tape from the US Supreme Court. It's 1960 and the justices are hearing arguments in the case Gomillion versus Lightfoot.
“The argument of petitioners is divided into two parts,” the bailiff continued.
This recording is from the website Oyez.com. Some of the voices you're hearing include justices Earl Warren, Hugo black and William Brennan. There's also Fred Gray.
“We feel that the facts in this case, as alleged in the complaint, are so important,” said Gray at that time. He was 29 years old back in 1960. If his name doesn't ring a bell, some of his clients might be more familiar. Gray represented Dr Martin Luther King, Jr and Rosa Parks, among others.
“The action originated in the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Alabama,” Gray told the Justices.
Gomillion vs Lightfoot challenged voter boundaries in the city of Tuskegee, Alabama. The original map went from looking like a square to a 28-sided blob. Critics say it looked like a sea dragon.
“As I walked under the those chiseled words of the Supreme Court, we would see whether or not we would win,” said Gray during a recent interview with APR.
Fred Gray is 93 as he recalls the words that stuck with him as he headed to Washington in 1960.
“Gomillion v.Lightfoot is perhaps the most important civil rights case that I have had the privilege of handling,” he recalled for APR.
“The enactment of this statute is to deprive petitioners and the class they represent of the right to be residents of the city of Tuskegee to deny them the right to vote in municipal election solely because of their race.
Gomillion versus Lightfoot laid the foundation for the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act the next year.
“We further alleged in the complaint that this exclusionary purpose and the effect is revealed, among other things, by the map and about other matters, which we shall call to the Court's attention as we proceed,” Gray continued in 1960.
“It was like, let's put a fight. Let's not just sit back and accept the maps that we've been given,” said Shalela Dowdy. She's one of the plaintiffs in Allen versus Milligan that created Alabama's new district two. The fire in dowdy's voice seems reminiscent of Fred Gray's and his work in the 1960s.
“A lot of people don't understand certain communities, and sometimes it's simply because they're not from those communities, because they can't relate to those communities, because they don't spend time in those communities,” said Dowdy.
But this current district two map and Alabama's Black Belt may not last. The state of Alabama is still defending its old map and is taking the case to trial in 2025.
“This is a class action instituted by 12 Negroes who are former residents in the city of Tuskegee, Alabama,” Gray continued before the Justices in 1960.
Fred Gray's goal was always to use the law to end segregation. In the 1960s it may be up to younger warriors like Shalela dowdy to keep fighting for maps that pull voters in not leave them out.
