Editing Greene County, Alabama (section)

===Civil Rights Era (1964–1970)===
On July 30, 1969, Greene County made history when it became "the first in the South since reconstruction with both the commission and the school board dominated by Negroes."<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Pc8yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DZYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3920%2C5372395 "Negroes Control Southern County— Win In Alabama Called 'Greatest'"], ''Pittsburgh Press'', July 30, 1969, p2</ref>  Barred from the ballot in the November 1968 general election, the new "National Democratic Party of Alabama" filed suit in federal court and a special election was ordered. In the new vote, African-American candidates won four of the five seats on the Greene County Commission, and two additional seats on the five-member Greene County School Board, and the ''Montgomery Advertiser'' would note the next day that "the election gave blacks control of both major governing bodies— a first in Alabama."<ref>"Greene Elects Six Negroes— Vote Gives Minority Control", ''Montgomery (AL) Advertiser'', July 30, 1969, p1</ref>  The date of the vote would later be described as "a watershed for black political empowerment in Alabama,",<ref>[https://jointcenter.org/docs/FOCUS-PDF/1999/jul99.pdf "1969: The Year of Empowerment in Alabama"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208231316/http://jointcenter.org/docs/FOCUS-PDF/1999/jul99.pdf |date=December 8, 2015 }}, by David C. Ruffin, ''FOCUS: The monthly magazine of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies'' (July 1999)</ref> leading to African-American candidates finally winning the right to govern counties where white residents were the minority.