of government for the city, consisting of seven members to be elected from single-member districts, with the mayor to be elected at-large. By that time, Mobile was the last major city in Alabama to retain a city commission form of government. This change was approved by 72% of state voters, including formerly excluded African Americans and poor whites. The change to single-member districts enabled a wider range of candidates to enter politics at the local level. The three African Americans elected to the council that fall became the first blacks to hold city office since Reconstruction. Since the change, African Americans and women have won election to the Mobile city government. References External links United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court United States Fifteenth Amendment case law United States equal protection case law United States electoral redistricting case law 1980 in United States case law Legal history of Alabama History of Mobile, Alabama