Eufaula, Alabama

====Voting Rights Act of 1965====
After the passage of the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]] the [[United States Department of Justice]] sent federal observers into 24 southern counties to enforce its provisions regarding voter registration for the Fall 1965 elections.  Many of these counties saw a significant increase in black registration, but Eufaula, not having federal supervision, had comparatively low rates.  For instance, on August 16, 1965, 600 black citizens waited in line at the County courthouse in Eufaula to register, but by the time the office closed, only 265 had managed to fill out the paperwork.<ref>{{cite book|author=Adam Fairclough|title=To Redeem the Soul of America: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Martin Luther King, Jr|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WFSgLg1S7gIC&pg=PA265|year=2001|publisher=University of Georgia Press|isbn=978-0-8203-2346-6|page=265}}</ref>

In 1966 the [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] (SNCC) responded by appointing a local Eufaulan, Daddy Bone, to organize [[voter registration drive]]s in Eufaula.  Bone initiated a series of nonviolent protests and boycotts of local stores that refused to hire blacks which attracted SNCC supporters from around the [[Southeastern United States]].  The city of Eufaula, under some pressure from the businessmen whose stores were targeted, passed anti-picketing laws and began arresting demonstrators ''en masse'' for violating them.  Bone brought in civil rights lawyer [[S.S. Seay|S. S. Seay]] to defend the protestors, who were mostly convicted, and in such numbers as to overwhelm the county jail.<ref>{{cite book|author=Solomon Seay Jr. |title=Jim Crow and Me: Stories from My Life as a Civil Rights Lawyer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EsFdRQDPmNMC&pg=PA63|date=December 1, 2011|publisher=NewSouth Books|isbn=978-1-60306-142-1|pages=63–6}}</ref>