The Tuskegee Boycott
— The Tuskegee Civil Rights and Historic Trail —
In 1957, local government officials in Tuskegee, Alabama sought to gerrymander the city's limits in an attempt to diminish the number of black votes in upcoming elections. Alabama state senator Sam Engelhardt sponsored Act 140, which transformed Tuskegee's boundaries into a twenty- eight-sided shape. This action disenfranchised the majority of the city's black voters in city elections. On June 25, over 3,000 black citizens met at Butler Chapel AME Zion Church in support of the Tuskegee Civic Association (TCA) and its proposed boycott of white owned businesses. Termed "trade with your friends," the boycott continued for four years until the United States Supreme Court ruled that the State of Alabama had violated the 15th Amendment (Gomillion v. Lightfoot, 364 U.S. 339 (1960)). The city's boundaries were then returned to their original positions in early 1961. The boycott proved economically devastating for white owned businesses that preferred to go out of business rather than give blacks the right to vote.| HM Number | HM2L0U |
|---|---|
| Tags | |
| Year Placed | 2019 |
| Placed By | City Of Tuskegee, Tuskegee University, Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Friday, September 20th, 2019 at 5:02pm PDT -07:00 |
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 16S E 623047 N 3588158 |
|---|---|
| Decimal Degrees | 32.42373333, -85.69128333 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 32° 25.424', W 85° 41.477' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 32° 25' 25.44" N, 85° 41' 28.62" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Which side of the road? | Marker is on the right when traveling North |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near , , |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
Is this marker missing? Are the coordinates wrong? Do you have additional information that you would like to share with us? If so, check in.
Comments 0 comments