National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Caswell County Branch - Unit #5372
P.O. Box 1032
Yanceyville, NC 27379
Blacks Will Get More Representation
Greensboro -- The NAACP has scored another victory in its efforts to get more black representation on local elected boards in North Carolina, this time in Caswell County. To settle a lawsuit with the NAACP, Caswell County's board of commissioners and board of education agreed to expand each board from five to seven members, with five members elected from districts and two members elected at large.
The plan, approved late Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Richard Erwin in Greensboro, must also be approved by the General Assembly and the U.S. Justice Department before it can be implemented. The settlement calls for the phase-in of the system to begin next year, with the election of two new members to each board. Those members will be elected from two districts with a black majority, located in the northeastern and western sections of the county.
The five current members of each board will continue serving until their terms expire in 1990 or 1992. When terms of three members of each board expire in 1990, new board members will be elected from three districts. When the terms of the two remaining members of each board expire in 1992, they will be replaced by two members elected at large. Board members will serve four years.
The district method is designed to allow more black representation on both boards. Although Caswell County is 42 percent black, no blacks have ever been elected to the board of commissioners, and only one black has been elected to the school board.
Source: Rocky Mount Telegram (Rocky Mount, North Carolina), 17 April 1988, Sunday, Page 12.
Note: The article is incorrect with respect black representation on the Caswell County Board of Commissioners. During Reconstruction a black was elected to that board.
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