Alabama will have two black members of the U.S. House of Representatives

For the first time in history, Alabama sends two Black representatives to the House of Representatives at the same time.

According to the so-called a feat that was not achieved even during Reconstructionthe post-Civil War era when black political power in the South was expanded as the United States attempted to include newly emancipated former slaves from the former Confederacy into full participation as American residents.

Shomari Figurs will represent Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District once he wins the seat in the November 2024 election.

This was made possible by court-ordered redistricting, which allowed the district’s black residents to elect their representatives.

On November 8, Numbers released an announcement saying it understood the importance of the case that allowed him and Republican Terri Sewell to concurrently represent Alabama in the House of Representatives.

“The opportunity for fair representation is an essential element of democracy because it gives people from different backgrounds the opportunity to make sure their voices are heard and their interests are represented,” Figura said.

Rep. Sewell, who represents Alabama’s seventh Congressional District, said the election results reflect the power of “having people in office who will fight for the issues that are important to us and the values ​​that we share.”

She continued: “The power of too many black voters in Alabama has been diluted by unfair congressional maps. By sending Shomari data to Washington, these voters finally have a chance to have a seat at the decision-making table. I look forward to having him as my partner in Congress and working on behalf of all Alabamians, especially those whose voices have not yet been fully heard.”

During Reconstruction, when the state’s population was much different than today, Alabama sent three Black men to the House of Representatives, but none of their terms overlapped.

Today, Alabama’s population is roughly 64% white and 27% black, and voter suppression that occurred shortly after the last of the three men, Rep. Jeremiah Haralson, left office in 1877 shapes black political representation in Alabama .

It wasn’t until 1992, greater than a century after Haralson left office, that Alabama sent its next black representative to Congress, Earl Hilliard, who represented Alabama’s majority-black seventh District.

For many years, the seventh District was Alabama’s only probability district, but after a federal court ordered Alabama to redraw the 2nd Congressional District, it became the state’s second-chance district.

This v case remains to be pending. Evan Milligan, the lead plaintiff in the case, told the website he remains to be unsure whether the lawsuit could lead to greater representation of Black Alabamians.

“At no point was it a foregone conclusion. I will say this, but it is still not the case because it is a topical issue. The only reason the law needs to say this is because of the decades of resistance the state of Alabama has had to uniformly enforce civil rights and voting rights protections in every branch and at every stage of the democratic process,” Milligan said.

He continued: “I think that in every generation we have a chance to keep our state and keep our nation with the values ​​enshrined in our Constitution, because freedom, justice and fairness are words of action.”

Bernard Simelton, president of the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, can also be a plaintiff in the lawsuit and shares Milligan’s concerns, but hopes the court will uphold the lawsuit’s results.

“I think the courts can’t help but recognize that the state of Alabama has acted in such a way as to create confusion in the district and that they will rule in favor of keeping the district as it is,” Simelton told the Journal.

He continued: “It showed that once again, when Black people are given the opportunity to get elected and go to the polls, they will do it and choose the person they want to represent them.”