The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus is the caucus of African-American members of the

Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly ...

. It was established in 1975, and is currently the largest caucus of black state legislators in the country in terms of members.

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 W. H. Rogers was an American politician. He was a state legislator in Georgia and was the only African-American to serve in the Georgia State Assembly, 99th Georgia State Assembly. He represented McIntosh County, Georgia from 1902 until 1907. Pol ...

resigned. From 1907 to 1962, African-Americans were effectively barred from voting or running in state elections by

poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...

es and

literacy test A literacy test assesses a person's literacy skills: their ability to read and write have been administered by various governments, particularly to immigrants. In the United States, between the 1850s and 1960s, literacy tests were administered t ...

s; until 1946, African-Americans were prohibited from participating in the

white primaries White primaries were primary elections held in the Southern United States in which only white voters were permitted to participate. Statewide white primaries were established by the state Democratic Party units or by state legislatures in South Ca ...

ran by the

Democratic Party of Georgia The Democratic Party of Georgia is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is one of the two major political parties in the state and is chaired by Nikema Williams. President Jimmy Carter was a Georgia Democrat. Sinc ...

. 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 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...

and

Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement ...

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 Horace Julian Bond (January 14, 1940 – August 15, 2015) was an American social activist, leader of the civil rights movement, politician, professor, and writer. While he was a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, during the e ...

, Benjamin Brown, Julius C. Daugherty, J. D. Grier, and

Grace Towns Hamilton Grace Towns Hamilton (February 10, 1907 – June 17, 1992) was an American politician who was the first African-American woman elected to the Georgia General Assembly. As executive director of the Atlanta Urban League from 1943 to 1960, Hamilt ...

) 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

* Rep. Benjamin Brown (1973-1976) * Rep. Bobby Hill (1976-1979) * Rep.

Calvin Smyre Calvin Smyre (born May 17, 1947) is an American politician who recently served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives for the 135th district. Elected in 1974, he was the longest-serving member of the Georgia Legislature. In May 2022 ...

(1979-1980) * Rep. William Randall (1980-1982) * Senator Al Scott (1982-1984) * Rep.

Sanford Bishop Sanford Dixon Bishop Jr. (born February 4, 1947) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for , serving since 1993. He became the dean of Georgia's congressional delegation after the death of John Lewis. A member o ...

* Senator Charles Walker * Rep. Bob Holmes * Rep.

Mike Thurmond Michael L. Thurmond (born 5 January 1953) is an American author, attorney and politician serving as the chief executive officer of DeKalb County, Georgia. A Democrat, he was previously a representative in the Georgia Assembly. Thurmond served as ...

* Rep.

Georganna Sinkfield Georganna Sinkfield (born February 11, 1943) is an American politician who served in the Georgia House of Representatives The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of th ...

* Sen. Diana Harvey Johnson * Rep. Carl Von Epps, Jr. * Senator

Ed Harbison Eddie Harbison (born August 25, 1941) is an American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals ...

* Rep.

Stan Watson Stanley Watson (17 March 1937 – 16 January 2014) was an English footballer who made 27 appearances in the Football League playing as a wing half or centre half for Darlington in the 1950s. He made his debut playing at centre half on 8 February ...

* Rep. Al Williams * Senator Emanuel Jones * Rep. Dee Dawkins-Haigler * Senator Lester G. Jackson * Rep. Karen Bennett (politician)

Notes

External links

Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, Inc. (GLBC) website
{{African-American politics Georgia General Assembly State Legislative Black Caucuses African-American state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state) 1975 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)