3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives

"take over the courthouse" with subsequent elections. To enact such a revolution, the
LCFO and SNCC began a massive voter registration drive . Inspired by gains made in the
nearby cities of Montgomery and Selma, black folks living in the county knew that any
kind of political activity in Lowndes, where the Republican Party did not even exist,
would mean trouble for them, but many participated anyway. What they attempted was
"black power" at its most basic level .
Black Power later became a querulous abstraction in the North and in the minds of
those who intellectualized the movement ; in places like Lowndes County, it was fairly
straightforward. The right to vote was now the law of the land under the Voting Rights
Act of 1965, but for many their struggle was just beginning. Lowndes illustrated the
power of the vote because so much was at stake there: jobs, land, education, and more .
Andrew Jones knew that becoming registered meant becoming a citizen . "I went out and
let people know," he said, "they wouldn't be free until they were rcgisteced ."~ °
On May 3, 1966, nine hundred people attended the LCFO's nominating
convention ; this group nominated seven of their ranks to run in the county's general
election for the offices of sheriff, coroner, tax assessor, and tax collator, in addition to
three positions on the board of education . Sidney Logan would be sheriff; Frank Miles
would be tax collector . Alice Moore, candidate for tax assessor, promised that if she
~ °Jones, in tawndes County Fnxdom Organi2acinn_ The Rice ~f r ai~~ Panrh.".c ~
video recording, University of Alabama Center for Public Television, reproduced by
Films for the Humanities and Sciences,1995 .
15 3