The 1965 Voting Rights Act brought to an end decades of Black disfranchisement that characterized the political climate in the former Confederate states since Reconstruction. For many Southern Blacks this resulted in the long sought political participation that "literacy tests," "the grandfather clause," and other cloaked Fifteenth Amendment violations had heretofore prevented. Although many Southern States resisted Civil Rights legislation and anti-discriminatory judicial orders, Mississippi was unique in its success in preventing the meaningful political participation of its Black population after the 1965 legislation. Frank R. Parker's Black Votes Count: Political Empowerment in Mississippi after 1965 depicts the methods employed in Mississippi which allowed for the continued political disempowerment of Blacks for years after the 1965 Act. Parker describes how these techniques were used to limit the political participation of Black Mississippians at the State, Federal, and County levels.

Although the political marginalization of Black Mississippians was achieved at all levels after 1965, perhaps the most damaging element of this disempowerment was the elimination of the ability of Black Mississippians to elect legislators at the State level. It was the Mississippi State Legislature that enacted the "Massive Resistance" campaign against Black political empowerment in 1966. It was the State Legislature that had the ability to redraw district lines and alter election procedures, albeit subject to Preclearance under Section Five of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The 1966, all white, Mississippi Legislature used the pretext of being required to comply with the earlier Baker v. Carr (1962) and Reynolds v. Simms (1964) Supreme Court decisions concerning voting malapportionment, to redesign the election districts and procedures in order to marginalize Black voting strength. The districts were divided at the County level and combined into multi-member districts so as to closely meet proper population proportions. The legislators in these districts would then be elected "at-large" thus meeting the requirements of the malapportionment rulings. The districts, however, were joined in such a manner that Black voting strength was eliminated. This was achieved by joining majority Black Counties, primarily in the Western "Delta" region, with majority White Counties thus creating majority White multi-member districts, a technique known as "stacking" in vote dilution vernacular. Although the Legislature's initial plan was not enacted, a similar plan, with virtually identical districts, based upon the legislature's plan, was ordered into place by the U. S. District Court. The prevailing notion was that a Federal Court-ordered redistricting plan was not subject to Section Five, thus preventing the Black population of Mississippi from attaining a meaningful vote in the State Legislature. From 1966 until 1975, the Legislature and the District Court alternated enacting a number of "compromise" plans which, although used for elections during the time period, prevented the completion of the redistricting process, thus postponing and Section Five intervention, thus denying a meaningful vote to the state's Black population at the State level, and consequently he Federal and County levels.

The power of the White-dominated Mississippi state Legislature to control the redistricting of Mississippi's Congressional Districts was used to dilute Black voting strength at the Federal level. After the 1960 census, a decade of declining population growth rates led to the loss of one Mississippi seat in the U. S. House of Representatives. In 1962, the State Legislature adopted a plan which combined the Mississippi Third district with the majority Black, Delta region, Second district. This plan fell victim to the malapportionment rulings, which were then used as a front for racially gerrymandering of the Congressional Districts in the wake of the 1965 legislation. The Mississippi House adopted a plan which would dilute the Delta's Black voting population between four of the five districts, a technique known as "stacking." The Senate's plan, and the later "compromise" plan split the Delta between three districts. In what was to be the most significant Civil Rights ruling by the Supreme Court since Brown v. The Board of Education (1954), Allen v. The State Board of Elections (1969) determined that the 1965 Voting Rights Act was to be interpreted in the most broad sense, meaning that racial effect, not racial intent, be proven for Section Five Preclearance, and that Preclearance must precede the enacting of voting legislation. After the Allen ruling, the Mississippi legislature adopted a plan which retained the contiguity of the majority Black Delta region, and the eventual election in 1986 of Mississippi's first Black Representative since Reconstruction.

Mississippi's Massive Resistance to Black voting strength campaign reached nearly all echelons of the political machine. At the County level, vote dilution had its most immediately recognizable effect because of the significance of County officials in the everyday lives of their constituents. The Mississippi Legislature used a number of techniques to prevent the election of Black County officials. First, Black votes at the County level were diluted in majority White Counties through countywide, at-large, election of County Supervisor and related offices, rather than by ward. Thus, a County might have a large enough concentrated Black population, but no way of electing a Black Supervisor. Although many of these at-large systems were in existence for decades before the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the White-dominated Legislature used the existing systems, plus a few new ones, to maintain White dominance through the office of Supervisor. Additionally, the Legislature enacted "Anti-Single Shot" legislation, designed to prevent Black voters from exploiting a divided White vote in such districts through "bullet voting." Second, as evident in the case of Hinds County, wherein the State Capitol is located, racial gerrymandering of County Ward boundaries was enacted under pretense of equalizing road mileage or land area. Thus, the high Black concentration voter concentration in urban Jackson was diluted. Third, the Legislature provided for the transformation of certain elected positions to appointed positions, such as Superintendent of Schools, based on referendum, which would allow White politicians to keep these offices in White hands. Forth, in some cases, the Legislature required greater qualifications for office, thus preventing many Black potential candidates from qualifying for office. It was at the County level, however, that Black Mississippians were to have their first major victories. These local vote dilution techniques were the most obviously racially motivated and were, therefore, the first to be eliminated.

In 1982, the 1965 Voting Rights Act was amended and extended for twenty five years. Mississippi has elected and reelected Black Representatives to Congress. Statewide, an evergrowing number of Black Mississippian are being elected to office. Yet, as Frank Parker maintains, "The continued polarization of Mississippi politics... indicates that blacks remain dependent upon voting rights litigation to remove the remaining barriers to equal black political participation." (205) At-large voting of some offices still exists in Mississippi. Race continues to be an issue in Mississippi elections. Parker suggests that without the protection of the Black electorate by the Voting Rights Act, Mississippi politics would return to the extreme conditions before 1965. Furthermore, Parker notes that the 1965 Legislation continues, to this day, to be used as a basis for litigation of voting issues both in and out of Mississippi. The proportion of Black politicians, nationwide, remains below the population proportions. In Parker's view, proportional representation of Blacks in government would be an indication that the culture of discrimination that spawned the Mississippi Massive Resistance Campaign of 1966 has come to an end. Until this day comes, the necessity of the Voting Rights Act for Black Mississippians and Black Americans, nationwide, continues.

Parker, Frank M. Black Votes Count: Political Empowerment in Mississippi after 1965. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. 1990.

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