Our Historical Timeline

1985

9th Annual NBCSL Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. NBCSL Executive Committee members met with Alabama Governor George Wallace on the probe involving elected officials and civil rights advocates. NBCSL members, representing 35 states, called for South Africa sanctions.

1984

8th Annual NBCSL Conference in Los Angeles, California.

1983

7th Annual NBCSL Conference in Memphis, Tennessee. NBCSL adopted a resolution to convince the federal government to “forgive” a $23 million loan owed by Nashville’s Meharry Medical College, one of the two historically black medical colleges in the U.S. NBCSL Read More

1982

6th Annual NBCSL Conference in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Under the leadership of President Clarence Mitchell III, NBCSL members met with President Ronald Reagan and convinced him to agree to support an extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

1981

5th Annual NBCSL Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.

1980

3rd Annual NBCSL Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. Maryland State Senator Clarence Mitchell III, elected the second president of NBCSL. NBCSL becomes the largest organization of black elected officials with 388 members in 42 states. NBCSL President Clarence Mitchell III, Read More

1979

3rd Annual NBCSL Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. Maryland State Senator Clarence Mitchell III, elected the second president of NBCSL. NBCSL becomes the largest organization of black elected officials with 388 members in 42 states. NBCSL President Clarence Mitchell III, Read More

1978

2nd Annual NBCSL Conference in Washington, D.C.

1977

NBCSL is founded in Detroit, Michigan. In November, 90 African American state legislators hold the first NBCSL Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Michigan State Representative Matthew McNeely is elected the first president.