But where there were only a few hundred black officeholders in 1965, there are some 6,000 today.

Major Black Officeholders since 1641, which lists hundreds of black officeholders since the American colonial era.

In 1984 many black officeholders maintained a determined distance from Mr. Jackson, partly because of Mr. Mondale's personal popularity and long civil rights record.

Black public officials in Alabama are charging that Federal officials are selectively prosecuting black officeholders.

It may be hyperbole to assert as Ms. McKinney does that black officeholders face "the same level of extinction" now as they did during Reconstruction.

There were 8,936 black officeholders in the United States in 2000, showing a net increase of 7,467 since 1970.

Despite this, in the 1880s, black officeholders were at a peak in local offices, where much business was done, elected from black-majority districts.

It's almost enough to make one dizzy, all this sudden cordinality between the Republican Mayor and black officeholders he used to wave off as "highly partisan" Democrats.

And ten of the black officeholders would be women.

About 137 black officeholders had lived outside the South before the Civil War.