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Daniel Brandon: Records sketchy on Huntsville's original black alderman

After he left office, city went 83 years electing only whites

02/26/04
By KEITH CLINES
Times Staff Writer kclines@htimes.com

The year was 1880 - an unusual time for Huntsville and the entire South. The Civil War had ended. The federal government was in charge. Reconstruction was in full swing.

Whites who had given comfort or aid to the Confederacy were disenfranchised from voting after the war. Huntsville had as many or more black registered voters than white voters.