The northern defeat in the Civil War lead to re-construction of the southern government. From 1868 to 1878. Black legislators were being included as Alabama lawmakers. They were represented in various counties to enact, modify and establish new laws that would include rights for all people. However, the white legislators were never comfortable with the change and Northern whites grew weary of the constant battles with the Southern whites about the issue of Black civil rights and abandoned their efforts to assist the cause. Thus, the Southern whites came up with "Jim Crow" laws, between 1878 and 1965, to continue to disenfranchise the Black people--separate but equal.

The early Black legislators in Macon County, Alabama were:

James H. Alston - 1868
Henry St. Clair - 1870
George Patterson - 1872
A. W. Johnson - 1874

The last Black re-construction legislator in Alabama was George English of Wilcox County in 1878.