Editing Aliceville, Alabama (section)

===Civil rights movement===

====1960====
During the [[civil rights movement]], organizing in small communities such as Aliceville was often more dangerous for activists than it was in larger cities because of their isolation.<ref name=jordan>{{cite book|author=Samuel S. Hill|title=On Jordan's Stormy Banks: Religion in the South : a Southern Exposure Profile|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7SvIR8X9jO8C&pg=PA23|year=1983|publisher=Mercer University Press|isbn=978-0-86554-035-4|pages=23–5}}</ref>  As late as 1965, according to James Corder, a [[Primitive Baptists|Primitive Baptist]] minister from Aliceville, Pickens County had not yet experienced any civil unrest related to the movement.<ref name=jordan/>  Jordan was inspired by the [[Selma to Montgomery marches]] in March of that year to organize a civil rights group in Aliceville, which he called the "Rural Farm and Development Council" in order to avoid scrutiny.<ref name=jordan/>  The group organized protests at the Aliceville city hall to oppose officially sanctioned racism in the city.<ref name=jordan/>

In September 1969 black students held protests against the principal of an all-black school in Aliceville, prompting governor [[Albert Brewer]] to send [[National Guard of the United States|National Guard]] troops into the city.<ref name=wallace>{{cite news|title=Wallace Backed on School Stand: Alabama Legislature Urges Defiance of Integration&mdash;Classes Begin Calmly|date=September 5, 1969|page=1|work=New York Times|author=James T. Wooten}}</ref>  Two of the city's all-black schools were closed on September 4 due to the demonstrations, and they reopened the next day under National Guard supervision.<ref>{{cite news|title=Troops at Alabama Schools|work=New York Times|page=16}}</ref>

====1970s and 1980s====
In 1982, Aliceville native Maggie Bozeman testified at [[U.S. House of Representatives|Congressional]] hearings held in [[Montgomery, Alabama]], concerning proposed amendments to the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]].<ref name=enforcing>{{cite book|author=Marsha Darling|title=Enforcing and Challenging the Voting Rights Act: Race, Voting, and Redistricting|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yajpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT346|date=February 24, 2014|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-135-73045-1|page=346}}</ref>  She testified that as late as 1980 in Aliceville and Pickens County voting took place in the open rather than in private booths and that white police officers were stationed in polling places, taking photographs of people who assisted black voters.<ref>{{cite book|author=Lani Guinier|title=Lift Every Voice: Turning a Civil Rights Setback Into a New Vision of Social Justice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bUEt9KwNWmAC&pg=PA77|date=March 7, 2003|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-7432-5351-2|page=77}}</ref>  This revelation outraged Republican congressman [[Henry Hyde]], who had previously been unconvinced of the necessity of amending the law.<ref name=enforcing/>

Bozeman's testimony followed her 1979<ref name=flare>{{cite news|title=Pickens County Flare-Up: The Story of 2 Blacks Found Guilty|newspaper=Washington Post|date=February 6, 1982|author=Art Harris|page=A6|url=http://www.lexisnexis.com/lnacui2api/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T19440316873&format=GNBFI&sort=DATE,A,H&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T19440297699&cisb=22_T19440316882&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&selRCNodeID=64&nodeStateId=411en_US,1&docsInCategory=313&csi=8075&docNo=3}}{{subscription required}}</ref> arrest, conviction, and sentencing for vote fraud.<ref name=march>{{cite news|title=March Is Begun in Alabama To Back Voting Rights Law|author=Reginald Stuart|date=February 7, 1982|page=24|work=New York Times}}</ref>  Bozeman and fellow political activist Julia Wilder of [[Olney, Alabama]] were given "the sternest sentences for a vote fraud conviction in recent Alabama history": five years for Wilder and four for Bozeman.<ref name=march/>  The sentences were upheld on appeal, prompting the formation of an organization, the [[National Coalition to Free Julia Wilder and Maggie Bozeman and Save the Voting Rights Act]], and a march through Aliceville from [[Carrollton, Alabama]], to Montgomery to publicize their cause.<ref name=march/>

The [[United States Department of Justice]] sent eight [[poll-watcher]]s to Aliceville to observe the 1984 [[Partisan primary|primary election]] runoffs following reports from observers of the July 1984 main primaries.<ref>{{cite news|title=Justice Dept. to Send Poll-Watchers to South|work=New York Times|page=A14|date=July 31, 1984}}</ref>