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''Brown v. The Board of Commissioners of the City of Chattanooga'' (1989) was the restructuring of the election process of Chattanooga's Board of Commissioners due to its unconstitutionality as it contradicted Section 2 of the Federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. Filed by twelve citizens in November of 1987 under the (United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee ), Southern Division, the case provided for a more equally distributed representation of the citizens, particularly the city's minority groups, of Chattanooga, TN. == Background == After the Civil War, blacks were capable of being included in city government and politics. They made up a substantial number of representatives in the fire department, education departments, and police departments. For example, in 1881, seven blacks out of a twelve-member force served as Chattanooga’s policemen. Out of fear and anger for the black political control in Chattanooga, a group of whites elected to amend the city's charter to require a poll tax, strict voting registration processes involving literacy tests and advanced registration, the governor's appointment of the police force, and a shift from five alderman to six. In 1901, the Tennessee legislature once again revised the city's charter to create a bicameral city government containing alderman and councilmen, leading to the elimination of blacks in political life. Following the city's charter establishment in 1839 by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, its governmental system was elected through an at-large voting process where a nearly all white candidates participated in the election to the five-member board with four-year terms. Candidates were chosen by a majority vote, but most voters were identified as caucasian or non-residential property owners, eliminating the opportunity for an equal representation of the 31.69% (as of 1980) of black population and residents. The Commission included positions such as Mayor or chief officer of finances, Commissioner of Fire and Police, Commissioner of Education and Health, Commissioner of Public Utilities, Grounds and Buildings, and Commissioner of Public Works, Streets and Airports. Each member was entitled to one vote; therefore, the Commission was not capable of representing the numerous segments of the Chattanooga area, but only the areas to which the members belonged which were predominantly white. Whites continued to dominate the Commission post until 1971 when John Franklin, the only black candidate to have ever been elected, became a part of the still largely white governmental board and was reelected until its termination. Since the first black candidate ran for the Commission in 1955, there have only been fifteen other black candidates to attempt at election into the Commission; however, John Franklin was the only to succeed. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Brown vs. Board of Commissioners of the City of Chattanooga」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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