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Comment on this story</tle><path d="M14 14V2H2v9.47h8.18L12.43 13ZM3 10.52V3h10v9.23l-2.5-1.66Z"></path></svg></button><span aria-hidn="te" class="wpds-c-fBEbFG">Comment</span><span class="wpds-c-fOvfhP wpds-c-fOvfhP-kshkDy-isCommentType-te none" aria-hidn="te"><span class="ment-unt font-xxxxs sc-ral-unt"><span class="ral-unt unfed" data-ral-notext="te"></span></span></span></div></div><div class="wpds-c-mfMEg"><div class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-hnjNCH wpds-c-kSOqLF-bywHgD-variant-primary wpds-c-kSOqLF-biynoz-nsy-pact wpds-c-kSOqLF-hZSyid-isOutle-te wpds-c-kSOqLF-ejCoEP-in-left wpds-c-kSOqLF-futx-cv wpds-c-hnjNCH-eNNUQD-cv wpds-c-hnjNCH-jGqLyO-cv"><div class="dib poter" data-qa="gift-share"><div aria-label="Gift this story" aria-ntrols="gift-share" aria-owns="gift-share" id="gift-share-ntrol" class="" aria-haspopup="te" aria-expand="false" role="button" tabx="0"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="currentColor" class="wpds-c-dJBvpf wpds-c-PJLV" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img"><path d="M10.73 5h.14a1.75 1.75 0 0 0 1-2.25 1.83 1.83 0 0 0-.51-.75 1.72 1.72 0 0 0-1.48-.35 1.76 1.76 0 0 0-1.2.94L8 3.93l-.68-1.4A1.76 1.76 0 0 0 4 3.59 1.74 1.74 0 0 0 5.13 5H2v4h1v5h10V9h1V5ZM9.58 3a.77.77 0 0 1 .51-.4h.17a.73.73 0 0 1 .47.17.72.72 0 0 1 .27.71.72.72 0 0 1-.48.58l-1.77.66ZM5 3.43a.72.72 0 0 1 .27-.71.73.73 0 0 1 .47-.17h.17a.77.77 0 0 1 .51.4l.83 1.7L5.48 4A.74.74 0 0 1 5 3.43ZM3 6h4.5v2H3Zm1 3h3.5v4H4Zm4.5 4V9H12v4ZM13 8H8.5V6H13Z" data-name="Path 10"></path></svg></div></div><span aria-hidn="te" class="wpds-c-fBEbFG">Gift<!-- --> <span class="PJLV PJLV-ikqOWxF-css">Article</span></span></div></div><div class="dib poter" data-qa="wpds-tooltip-ntrol"><div aria-ntrols="actns-tooltip" aria-owns="actns-tooltip" id="actns-tooltip-ntrol" class="" aria-haspopup="te" aria-expand="false"><div class="wpds-c-mfMEg"><div class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-hnjNCH wpds-c-kSOqLF-bywHgD-variant-primary wpds-c-kSOqLF-biynoz-nsy-pact wpds-c-kSOqLF-hZSyid-isOutle-te wpds-c-kSOqLF-ejCoEP-in-left wpds-c-kSOqLF-futx-cv wpds-c-hnjNCH-eNNUQD-cv wpds-c-hnjNCH-jGqLyO-cv"><div tabx="0" aria-label="Share" class="PJLV PJLV-ietWzJw-css"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="currentColor" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-dJBvpf wpds-c-dJBvpf-iPJLV-css "><path d="M14 14H2V7h1v6h10V7h1Zm-5.5-2h-1V3h1Z"></path><path d="M10.29 5.71 11 5 8 2l-.71.71L5 5l.71.71L8 3.42l2.29 2.29z"></path></svg></div><span aria-hidn="te" class="wpds-c-fBEbFG">Share</span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="teaser-ntent grid-center"><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The Supreme Court, a <a href=" target="_blank">surprise lg</a> last month, <a href=" target="_blank">rejected Alabama’s redrawn ngrsnal maps</a>, lg that they diluted the power of Black voters and vlated the Votg Rights Act of 1965. The urt later <a href=" target="_blank">cleared the way for new maps</a> Louisiana, which uld also clu a send district that state where Black voters have a good chance of electg their ndidate of choice.</p></div></div><div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The urt’s actns land the heart of the Amerin South, where stat recent years have implemented <a href=" target="_blank">signifint chang</a> votg laws. Des ago, they also followed a foundatnal se the former pal of the Conferacy that praged today’s vote-dilutn battl — and transformed a majory-Black cy for good.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p><span class="wpds-c-gnhuPA wpds-c-gnhuPA-hqeSyH-variant-terstial wpds-c-gnhuPA-iPJLV-css hi-for-prt"><a data-qa="terstial-lk" href=">How Whe fears of ‘Negro domatn’ kept D.C. disenanchised for s</a></span></p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In the 1960s, Richmond was plagued by a sufferg enomy, rottg astcture and wispread poverty, promptg the cy to beg a years-long mpaign to win s boundari. On Jan. 1, 1970, annexed nearly 23 square of borrg Chterfield County. Forty-seven thoand people beme Richmond rints overnight, 45,700 of them Whe.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image-group"><div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Many Richmond activists at the time claimed the redrawg of borrs had an sid motive, part of a large-sle effort to crimp the power of Ain Amerins at the polls and keep them out of office. Attorneys for the cy later acknowledged the annexatn may have been racially motivated. But they mataed that, even so, the effect wasn’t unnstutnal.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“What that did one fell swoop was to shift the mographic of the cy,” Thomas Coat, III, a longtime Richmond lawyer, said.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p><span class="wpds-c-gnhuPA wpds-c-gnhuPA-hqeSyH-variant-terstial wpds-c-gnhuPA-iPJLV-css hi-for-prt"><a data-qa="terstial-lk" href=">Some ll votg rtrictns upheld by Supreme Court ‘Jim Crow 2.0.’ Here’s the ugly history behd that phrase.</a></span></p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Years of subsequent lawsus, appeals, allegatns of secret Wh-only meetgs and electn junctns morphed to<b> </b>the Supreme Court se of<b> </b><a href=" target=_blank><i>Cy of Richmond v. Uned Stat</i></a><i>. </i>It beme one of the Votg Rights Act’s earlit tts of geography and equy.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In the years before Print Lyndon B. Johnson signed the VRA, gettg voters of lor to the polls was dangero bs, pecially the South. Civil rights activists who fought to register Black voters faced <a href=" target=_blank>beatgs</a>, jail time and, Selma, Ala., <a href=" target=_blank>police tear gas</a>. The VRA outlawed racial discrimatn votg, outlg that stat uld not lim voters’ rights based on their race.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The redrawg of municipal borrs, cludg the annexatn of neighborg areas, isn’t herently racist nor sister; often, ’s how ci grow. Brooklyn and Queens, for stance, didn’t bee part of New York Cy until 1898, 245 years after the cy was chartered.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body grid-tablet-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">But civil rights historians say Richmond’s annexatn of Chterfield County was different, a moment steeped the particular brand of racism that was then characteristic of the former Conferate pal: pole, sugarated and rooted a fear of Black power. It was “racism wh a velvet glove,” Rutledge Dennis, a profsor of soclogy at Gee Mason Universy, said, who was teachg at Virgia Commonwealth Universy at the time of the se. Dennis and his lleague John Moer spent several years the 1970s nductg <a href=" target=_blank>a tailed study</a> on the annexatn.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Richmond had long served<b> </b>as a hub for the South’s slave tra, and by the mid-20th century, old money still ran the cy and much of Virgia. Wh wanted to keep that way.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“After all, Richmond was the Queen of the Conferacy,” Dennis said. “Richmond was special. And, for many Wh, that specialns did not clu havg Blacks atta polil power.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p><span class="wpds-c-gnhuPA wpds-c-gnhuPA-hqeSyH-variant-terstial wpds-c-gnhuPA-iPJLV-css hi-for-prt"><a data-qa="terstial-lk" href=">A Black WWII veteran voted Geia 1946. He was lynched for .</a></span></p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Throughout the 1960s, as attorney Cabell Venable later claimed,<b> </b>Whe Richmond officials held <a href=" target=_blank>secret meetgs</a> to strategize on creasg the cy’s Whe populatn. Philip J. Bagley Jr., the cy’s mayor om 1968 to 1970, had participated those meetgs, Venable said.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“The entire discsn om the very begng was ‘We need Whe people,’” Venable alleged. “To quote the mayor who head up the negotiatns, ‘As long as I am the mayor of the cy of Richmond, quote, the n------ won’t take over this town.’”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Bagley, who <a href=" target=_blank>died</a> 1996, nied makg such ments at the time. But Frerick Dietsch, a Chterfield County reprentative, told Dennis’s team that the mayor had ma siar ments a meetg, g the same slur. “We need 44,000 Whe bodi,” Dietsch relled Bagley sayg.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Curtis Holt Sr., a Black lol activist, quickly latched on to the annexatn dispute.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><div class="wpds-c-VkPmP hi-for-prt"><div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Holt had a history of fightg the cy. He had sued the <a href=" target="_blank">Richmond Revelopment and Hog Authory</a> to lay evictns om public hog. He had anized the tenants of his public hog plex. In 1970, he ma one of multiple failed bids for cy uncil, and he pegged his loss on the Chterfield annexatn, which he asserted had diluted the Black vote.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The activist began his mpaign to sue the cy for vlatg the Votg Rights Act 1971, but lol civil rights lawyers and branch of the NAACP “all turned him down,” Dennis said, or gave him the naround. “He was Curtis Holt. He was known to be an agator of sorts,” Dennis said. </p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-vio" data-ttid="article-vio" class=""><div><figure class="mb-md mr-to-ns ml-to-ns hi-for-prt ml-neg-gutter mr-neg-gutter"><div class="w-100 aspect-ctom" style="background-posn:center;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-lor:rgb(245, 245, 245);background-image:url();background-size:nta;--aspect-height:0.5625;--aspect-width:1"></div><figptn><div class="mt-xs mr-to-ns ml-to-ns left font--subhead font-xxxs gray-dark ml-gutter mr-gutter" data-qa="vio-ptn">Listen to Supreme Court Jtice Byron R. Whe qutn Richmond lawyers on the cy's motivatns for redrawg cy borrs. (Vio: The Washgton Post)</div></figptn></figure></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Holt thumbed the phone book, llg one law firm at a time and llectg rejectns. By the time he reached<b> </b>the G’s,<b> </b>multiple firms had suggted he ll Venable, a young Richmond lawyer eager to make a name for himself. Venable agreed to reprent him at no st. Coat,<b> </b>h out of the Army, worked wh Venable at the time and was stck by Holt’s termatn.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p><span class="wpds-c-gnhuPA wpds-c-gnhuPA-hqeSyH-variant-terstial wpds-c-gnhuPA-iPJLV-css hi-for-prt"><a data-qa="terstial-lk" href=">The time Clarence Thomas said affirmative actn was ‘cril’ for society</a></span></p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“He says, ‘I haven’t got a penny to my name, and you boys obvly don’t have any money eher, and this su is gog to be an expensive su to pursue,’” Coat, now 79, reunted.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Coat had e om a Whe, well-off Richmond fay, and an terview he pared mid-century Richmond to apartheid South Ai. By jog Holt’s se, Coat was facg down that racial hierarchy which he’d grown up. He rells nng<b> </b>to one of the senr attorneys reprentg the cy the hallway of Richmond’s feral urthoe.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image-group"><div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“He says, ‘You know you all n’t possibly w this se. It’s jt not possible,’” Coat said. “And I said, ‘Me and my lleagu, we are so wet behd the ears and so legally ignorant, we are too young and dumb to unrstand that we nnot w this se. That is what is gog to allow to actually prevail one day this se: the fact that we n’t hear you guys.’”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In Febary 1971, Holt filed the lawsu, but Venable uldn’t nvce the district urt judge that race was part of the annexatn equatn. Holt’s team lost but quickly appealed.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><div class="wpds-c-VkPmP hi-for-prt"><div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The accatn that the annexatn was racially motivated, and the shuffle between urtroom nials and appeals, shook Richmond polics. By orr of the <a href=" target=_blank>Department of Jtice</a>, Richmond ceased cy uncil electns between 1972 and 1976. Durg that time, <a href=" target=_blank>the cy’s first Black woman</a>, Willie Dell, was appoted to a uncil seat.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The annexatn se ma to the Supreme Court April 1975. By then, Coat remembers loggg close to 2,000 hours on .</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">At the center of the Supreme Court’s arguments, asssg whether Richmond had vlated the Votg Rights Act, the attorneys and jtic dissected two key factors: whether the absorptn of Chterfield County had the purpose of discrimatg agast Black voters, and whether had that effect.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body grid-tablet-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">That June, spe the evince that the annexatn fundamentally shifted Richmond’s mographics, and spe posns atttg to cy lears’ racism,<b> </b>the urt led 5-3 favor of the cy. Jtice Lewis Powell, of Richmond, reced himself.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“We do not agree wh the District Court that the annexatn, as fely nceived, had the effect of nyg the right to vote,” Jtice Byron Whe said announcg the urt’s opn. “We are also sufficiently unsure that had such a purpose.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-vio" data-ttid="article-vio" class=""><div><figure class="mb-md mr-to-ns ml-to-ns hi-for-prt ml-neg-gutter mr-neg-gutter"><div class="w-100 aspect-ctom" style="background-posn:center;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-lor:rgb(245, 245, 245);background-image:url();background-size:nta;--aspect-height:0.5625;--aspect-width:1"></div><figptn><div class="mt-xs mr-to-ns ml-to-ns left font--subhead font-xxxs gray-dark ml-gutter mr-gutter" data-qa="vio-ptn">Listen to lawyer Armand Derfner argue to the Supreme Court that "Whe cizens have never been discrimated agast on acunt of race" the state of Virg (Vio: The Washgton Post)</div></figptn></figure></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The urt acknowledged the annexatn “enhance[d] the power of the Whe majory to exclu Negro,” but said that excln would be alleviated by implementg a ward system. That system, still effect Richmond, led to the 1977<b> </b>electn of s first Black-majory cy uncil — which then elected the <a href=" target=_blank>cy’s first Black mayor</a>.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“Voters this old Conferate pal elected Blacks to a majory of Cy Council seats Tuday, otg an entrenched power stcture of whe bs and fancial lears who had erned Richmond, one form or another, for nearly 30 years,” <a href=" target=_blank>The Washgton Post wrote</a> at the time.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Today, the <a href=" target=_blank>area Richmond annexed 1970 </a>still<b> </b>ntas some of the cy’s <a href=" target=_blank>wealthit</a> — and <a href=" target=_blank>Wht</a> — neighborhoods.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Across the South, as elsewhere, votg rights s rage on.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“I lived unr the illn for a number of years that that was pretty much behd ,” Coat said. “But ’s not. It’s not at all.”</p></div><div class="flex mt-md grid-center grid-body"><div class="mb-lg-mod" data-qa="ments-btn-div"><button aria-label="Scroll to the ments sectn" data-qa="ments-btn" class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-kSOqLF-SQjOY-variant-sendary wpds-c-kSOqLF-eHdizY-nsy-flt wpds-c-kSOqLF-ejCoEP-in-left ments hi-for-prt"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="currentColor" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-fBqPWp "><path d="M14 14V2H2v9.47h8.18L12.43 13ZM3 10.52V3h10v9.23l-2.5-1.66Z"></path></svg><span class="ral-unt unfed" data-ral-notext="te"></span> Comments</button></div><div class="wpds-c-dXjReQ"><button id="gift-share-shortcut" class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-kSOqLF-SQjOY-variant-sendary wpds-c-kSOqLF-biynoz-nsy-pact wpds-c-kSOqLF-ejCoEP-in-left hi-for-prt ml-sm"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="currentColor" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-dJBvpf "><path d="M10.73 5h.14a1.75 1.75 0 0 0 1-2.25 1.83 1.83 0 0 0-.51-.75 1.72 1.72 0 0 0-1.48-.35 1.76 1.76 0 0 0-1.2.94L8 3.93l-.68-1.4A1.76 1.76 0 0 0 4 3.59 1.74 1.74 0 0 0 5.13 5H2v4h1v5h10V9h1V5ZM9.58 3a.77.77 0 0 1 .51-.4h.17a.73.73 0 0 1 .47.17.72.72 0 0 1 .27.71.72.72 0 0 1-.48.58l-1.77.66ZM5 3.43a.72.72 0 0 1 .27-.71.73.73 0 0 1 .47-.17h.17a.77.77 0 0 1 .51.4l.83 1.7L5.48 4A.74.74 0 0 1 5 3.43ZM3 6h4.5v2H3Zm1 3h3.5v4H4Zm4.5 4V9H12v4ZM13 8H8.5V6H13Z" data-name="Path 10"></path></svg><span class="wpds-c-iSKIAI">Gift this article</span>Gift Article</button></div></div><div class="grid-center grid-body"><div class="hi-for-prt" data-ttid="llectns__wrapper"><div class="wpds-c-iRrQDa wpds-c-iRrQDa-ibLfOyz-css"><div class="wpds-c-eZQlgr"><div class="PJLV"><div data-orientatn="horizontal" role="separator" class="wpds-c-dbVHzF wpds-c-dbVHzF-kJRMEh-variant-strong wpds-c-dbVHzF-icdXrXM-css"></div><label class="wpds-c-bMdHQm wpds-c-bMdHQm-jPiQqD-size-md wpds-c-bMdHQm-iPJLV-css"><div>More om Retropolis</div><div data-qa="handcurated-label" class="wpds-c-kcUnXn"><div class="wpds-c-hxvsrd curated-in-wrapper"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 93 81" fill="var(--wpds-lors-sendary)" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-hlLlVP curated-in-asset" data-ttid="curated-in-asset" style="marg:to"><path fill="#fff" fill-le="evenodd" d="m42.2 24.27-4.28-4.32-3.28 3.32v26.65l7.47 6.62.08-.07v-32.2zm-17.25 1-5.34-5.32-3.51 3.62V50l6.48 5.62 2.37-2.7V25.27zm59.4-13.49 8.65 8v33.76L79.61 63.78c-1.3-1.63-2.9-3.02-4.81-3.57v16.15l-.16.08-4.2-3.96-8.87 8.3-.16-.08V59.82a14.37 14.37 0 0 0-7.8 5.13l-.61-.39c.53-5.98 3.44-10.4 8.41-12.1V37.31h-1.6a4.03 4.03 0 0 0-4.06 3.26h-.91A9.64 9.64 0 0 1 54.3 37c0-3.8 2.52-6.68 6.65-6.68h.46v-8.38l-2.75-2.48-2.14 2.17-1.07-1.01 8.49-8.85 7.19 6.68v7.6l2.22-2.4v-8.93h1.45v7.37l9.56-10.32zm-11 13.35-2.22 2.33v43.7l2.22 2.1V25.12zM15.1 0l.68.62c-2.51 1.23-4.57 2.77-4.57 6.08 0 5.09 4.88 3.78 4.88 11.79v3.08l8.92-9.47 9.39 9.32 8.85-9.33 8.54 8.48v28.5L36.1 63.71l-10.6-9.25-8.1 9.25-10.98-9.55v-15.1H4.27c-1.9 0-2.82 1.15-3.13 2.7H.38c-.15-.62-.38-1.7-.38-2.93 0-2 .84-7.24 6.4-7.24V19.88c0-4.55-2.97-4.78-2.97-8.7C3.43 6.77 7.55 2.7 15.11 0zm63.74 19.16L74.8 23.5v28.18c3.6.46 6.27 1.7 8.49 4.11l.07-.08V23.35l-4.5-4.2z"></path></svg></div><div>HAND CURATED</div></div></label></div></div><div data-qa="llectns-wrapper"><ul data-ttid="llectns-list" class="wpds-c-fJRfWX wpds-c-fJRfWX-icuweNC-css"><li class="wpds-c-hzLuJf wpds-c-hzLuJf-ibJMFbE-css"><span class="wpds-c-boVztI"><a href=" class="wpds-c-hJmLeM remove-borr-bottom"><div style="width:66%;marg:0" class="wpds-c-fixGjY"><div class="wpds-c-eQfTfP"><div href=" alt="A gay first lady? 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This is who they were, and how they shaped the natn.</span></div></div><div class="wpds-c-bZNrxE"><div data-ttid="text-rd-timtamp-earlier" class="wpds-c-iKQyrV wpds-c-gWbYHj">November 28, 2022</div></div></a></span></li></ul></div><button class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-kSOqLF-SQjOY-variant-sendary wpds-c-kSOqLF-eHdizY-nsy-flt wpds-c-kSOqLF-hGNJMA-in-center wpds-c-kSOqLF-qcJLL-cv wpds-c-kSOqLF-ieqAhsM-css">View 3 more stori<svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="currentColor" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-dJBvpf wpds-c-gmtmov"><path d="m3.38 6 .71-.71L8 9.25l3.91-3.92.71.71L8 10.67Z"></path></svg></button></div></div></div><div class="grid-center grid-body"><div></div></div></article><div class="centered-layout grid-layout"><div class="grid-center grid-mobile-full-bleed"><div class="hi-for-prt ml-to mr-to mt-md pt-lg recirc" data-qa="recirc"><div class="flex-l jtify-center hi-for-prt"><div class="pr-sm ml-sm ml-0-ns b-l br-l bc-gray-darkt more-om-post"><div></div><div class="dn db-l pb-md pt-md"><div data-qa="newsletter" class="hi-for-prt relative"><div class="dib w-100"><div><div class="flex jtify-center align self-center center transn-all duratn-400 ease--out" data-qa="sc-newsletter-signup" aria-label=""><svg aria-labelledby="react-aria-1-aria" role="img" viewBox="0 0 100 80"><tle id="react-aria-1-aria">Loadg... .