Michigan Redistricting: Court Finds New Detroit Maps Better for Black Voters

Explore Our Galleries

A man stands in front of the Djingareyber mosque on February 4, 2016 in Timbuktu, central Mali.
Mali's fabled city of Timbuktu on February 4 celebrated the recovery of its historic mausoleums, destroyed during an Islamist takeover of northern Mali in 2012 and rebuilt thanks to UN cultural agency UNESCO.
TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SEBASTIEN RIEUSSEC / AFP / SÉBASTIEN RIEUSSEC

African Peoples Before Captivity

Shackles from Slave Ship Henrietta Marie

Kidnapped: The Middle Passage

Nearly Three Centuries Of Enslavement

Image of the first black members of Congress

Reconstruction: A Brief Glimpse of Freedom

The Lynching of Laura Nelson_May_1911 200x200

One Hundred Years of Jim Crow

I Am Somebody! The Struggle for Justice

NOW: Free At Last?

Memorial to the Victims of Lynching

The Freedom-Lovers’ Roll Call Wall

Frozen custard in Milwaukee's Bronzeville

Special Exhibits

Portraiture of Resistance

Breaking News!

Today's news and culture by Black and other reporters in the Black and mainstream media.

Click Here

Ways to Support ABHM?

Click Here

March 28, 2024

By Lauren Gibbons, Bridge Michigan

An attendee at a redistricting public hearing in Detroit considers several options for new metro Detroit state House districts. Seven existing House districts were scrapped by a federal court, where judges determined the commission improperly used racial data to draw maps. (Bridge photo by Lauren Gibbons)

New Detroit-area state House districts redrawn by Michigan’s citizen redistricting commission are fairer to Black voters and will take effect in time for this year’s elections, a federal court ruled Wednesday.

In a new opinion, a federal three-judge panel that rebuked the commission’s original work in several metro Detroit political districts determined there was “no basis to reject” the commission’s revised map, dubbed “Motown Sound FC E1.”

The new map “departs significantly” from the original plan, the court found, adhering more closely to county and municipal boundaries and increasing the number of majority-Black districts.

[…]

Commissioners aren’t done with their work yet — six state Senate districts also thrown out by the court will be dealt with later this spring.

Read the full article.

Learn about Bernard Lafayette and his fight for Black voting rights.

Read about the current redistricting efforts in Louisiana and the possible impact on Black voters.

Find more breaking news.

Comments Are Welcome

Note: We moderate submissions in order to create a space for meaningful dialogue, a space where museum visitors – adults and youth –– can exchange informed, thoughtful, and relevant comments that add value to our exhibits.

Racial slurs, personal attacks, obscenity, profanity, and SHOUTING do not meet the above standard. Such comments are posted in the exhibit Hateful Speech. Commercial promotions, impersonations, and incoherent comments likewise fail to meet our goals, so will not be posted. Submissions longer than 120 words will be shortened.

See our full Comments Policy here.