The Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators

Abstract

Beginning in the late 1880s, the state legislature approved laws disenfranchising a number of Black voters in Tennessee and made it virtually impossible for the continued election of Black officeholders. Indeed, only 17 Black Tennesseans held elective office from 1885 to 1900 (Cartwright, 1976; Scott, 1964). The landmark reapportionment case Baker v. Carr (1962), which challenged malapportionment in the state legislative body, provided the constitutional precedent that eventually led to the creation of several majority Black districts in Tennessee. As a result of this Supreme Court decision and other apportionment cases (Reynolds v. Sims, 1964; Wesberry v. Sanders, 1964), states were forced to reapportion their legislative districts. The 1964 election of attorney Archie Walter (A. W.) Willis, Jr., the first Black legislator in the state since Reconstruction, was but one important tangible political outcome of these court rulings. This longitudinal study examines the role of race in the Tennessee General Assembly from 1970 to 1988. The study relies heavily on interviews with various Black caucus members and three other sources: Abstracts of Public Chapters (Office of Legislative Ser-