As of the 2020 census, the population of Newbern, Alabama, was 133 people. That’s down from 186 people in 2010. It’s a poor community; people have left for better jobs elsewhere or found the struggle too hard. Depending on the source, Newbern is between 64% and 85% Black and had never had a Black mayor until 2020. In fact, Newbern had never had an election for mayor. From the first mayor on, the position has been hand-picked, sometimes inherited, from one white male to another, until Patrick Braxton decided to run for office.
Braxton, 57, serves as a volunteer firefighter and emergency responder. He ran for mayor because he “had concerns that the Town Council and Mayor were not responding to the needs of the majority Black community.” He approached then-mayor Haywood Stokes III about how to run for mayor and was given wrong information. Braxton figured it out and submitted his statement of candidacy and qualifying money order to the city clerk.
No other candidate qualified for office, and Braxton became mayor by default. He was sworn in by County Probate Judge Arthur Crawford and told to appoint four city council members, as was the Newbern custom, given that they held no local elections. Braxton approached some white people, but none were willing to serve in his administration.
Weeks after Braxton’s August election, the previous council allegedly “met in secret to adopt a ‘special’ election ordinance.” Notice of the meeting was not published, and the group set a special election for October 6, 2020. The new election date was never announced or posted. The old council voted Haywood Stokes back into office, and he reappointed the council members, all without notifying the Black voters of Newbern, except for the one member serving on the old council.
On November 2, 2020, Braxton and his appointed city council were sworn into office. Ten days later, the city attorney’s office executed the oath of office for Stokes and his appointees. Braxton held his first town meeting that same month. Stokes changed the locks to keep Braxton and his council from accessing the town hall.
Kerry Breen News Editor
Meanwhile, the volunteer fire department, of which Braxton was the only Black member, stopped responding to the calls of Black homeowners. Braxton found himself the only one responding when a Black person owned the home. On one occasion, a white firefighter tried to take the keys to the fire truck to keep Braxton from using it to fight a fire.
Braxton learned that city records had been removed from city hall, and the bank refused to provide him with statements. He was blocked from accessing the city post office box and couldn’t access financial records. During the COVID-19 pandemic, before Braxton’s brief tenure in office, Newbern received a $30,000 grant, but there’s no accounting of how the money was spent.
Aallyah Wright
After contacting several lawyers who either refused to help or took his money and did nothing, Braxton filed a federal lawsuit naming Stokes, his appointed council members, the People’s Bank of Greensboro, and the postmaster at the U.S. Post Office as defendants. None of them responded to requests for statements; Stokes and his council claim “qualified immunity,” saying they can’t be personally sued.
Four years after white residents locked him out of the town hall and refused to let him serve, the first Black mayor of a rural Alabama town has taken a landslide victory this week in a mayoral election, winning 66 to 26. A legal settlement allowed him to begin serving in July of 2024, and the election, the first in six decades, will enable him to stay in office.
“The people came out and spoke and voted," said Incumbent Mayor Patrick Braxton. "Now, there ain’t no doubt what they want for this town.”