He became the first Black mayor of a rural Alabama town. Then a white minority locked him out

For years the mayor in Newburn was appointed, not elected. When Patrick Braxton won the election, the outgoing mayor and his cronies refused to accept it

In November 2020, Patrick Braxton, a volunteer firefighter and contractor from Newbern, Alabama, was elected mayor of the 133-person town. He wanted to have a peaceful and timely transfer of power, so he repeatedly attempted to contact the town's previous mayor, Haywood Woody" Stokes III, but Stokes would not return his calls.

Braxton, who is Black, decided to go to the town hall and talk to Stokes, who is white, in person. He told Stokes that he would need a key to the town hall to begin his duties. Stokes acquiesced and gave him a key, but when Braxton entered the building, he found that town hall had been stripped of its records, beyond a couple boxes of discarded items that looked like trash. He also said he noticed that Stokes had given keys to friends of his, people who were not council members and had no official business with the city, who were walking in and out of the building.