The Nation - News from Jan. 3, 1989

The racially divided town of Keysville, Ga., held its first locally supervised election since the 1930s, reelecting the mayor and voting in her all-black council slate. Mayor Emma Gresham got 127 votes, and white challenger Joseph Cochran got 61. The ballots were counted after the Burke County Board of Registrars denied two challenges filed by Cochran, who had contended that some voters did not live within the town’s boundaries. For reasons lost to time, Keysville deactivated its government in 1933. Attempts earlier in the 1980s by black residents to reactivate local government were met with court challenges by white residents. Those opposed to reactivating the government ultimately lost in federal court.