Editing Aliceville, Alabama (section)

====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>