Part Two: Judge Archie Elliott, Jr. Remembers Rise & Fall of Voting Rights Act

By Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter Emeritus
New Journal and Guide

A decade after the Voting Rights Act (VRA) was passed in 1965, the first generation of “post-Reconstruction” Black elected officials was elected to local city councils, state legislatures and to the U.S. Congress.

In 1967, William Ferguson Reid was the first African-American elected to the Virginia House of Delegates after Reconstruction, a century after William H. Andrews of Surry County, the first African-American was elected.

• In Portsmouth, dentist Dr. James Holley, III, and Raymond Turner were elected to the city council in 1968.
• In 1969, a century after James William D. Bland, L. Douglas Wilder was elected to the Virginia State Senate.  
• In 1974, Archie Elliott Jr. was elected to join Dr. James Holley, III on Portsmouth’s City Council.

Elliott and Wilder are the only two Black officials elected in that time period who are alive today.

Elliott, 84, lives a quiet life in Portsmouth after transitioning from a career in the military, to a career in law, which included lawyer, civic organizer, prosecutor, city councilman, and finally a Judge. In fact, he was the first African-American full-time judge in the City of Portsmouth.

After leaving the bench, he was named Assistant Chief of the Nottoway Indian Tribe of  Virginia.

Elliott looks back on his long life with pride, marveling at how his ancestors prepared him to understand and participate in the modern civil rights movement providing opportunities for personal and professional advancement. 

But he also worries that many of those tools used to provide his generation with credentials and achievements, such as the VRA, are rapidly being weakened.

Born in Suffolk, the 1959 product of East Suffolk High School in Nansemond County, Archie Elliott Jr. graduated from Virginia State College in 1964, where he participated in student sit-ins opposing segregation.

He took time to marry and start a family, which generated four offspring.

When Captain Archie Elliott Jr. left the U.S. Army five years later, where he had distinguished himself by serving with the Green Berets, he set his sights on a career in law, and in 1971 he was one of five Magna Cum Laude graduates from the North Carolina Central University Law School.

In 1972, after brief tours of duty at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the law office of George Minor, 30-year-old Elliott was sworn in as Portsmouth’s first Black Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney.

Elliott recalls that Blacks were politically vigorous at the time. With two members on the council, they clamored for reforms, insisted on more job in city government, and worked towards establishing more private economic opportunities.

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He was recruited to the staff of the Central Civic Forum, a group working on reforms and parity for Blacks in Portsmouth. His first assignment was running the forum’s on-going Voter Registration Operation. Julian Bond, Roy Wilkins, and John Lewis visited Portsmouth to assist with this effort.

Effective and charismatic, Elliott said he studied the culture of both the Black and White communities of the city.  He did not hide his eagerness to join the leaders pushing for the few seats of influence available to them in the white power structure.

A February 9, 1974 edition of The GUIDE announced that Elliott was running for city council. His campaign focused on reform and opening economic doors closed to Blacks. He exposed the council for making decisions during “secret” sessions which were called “Executive Sessions,” and if elected, he vowed to end them.

He called for an affirmative action plan to hire more minorities in city government, bolster city economic development, improve housing options for the poor and elderly, fight crime, and provide better pay and benefits for city police and fire personnel.

Once elected, he joined James Holley and both men used their voices to seek reforms and Black advancement.

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In 1976, Portsmouth was the first city in the area to hire a Black Assistant City Manager. Elliott and Holley exposed the disparities in the quality and number of recreational facilities existing in Black and white neighborhoods.

Elliott challenged the city’s maintenance of white cemeteries while ignoring the Black cemeteries causing Black residents to seek decent burial sites for their families in Chesapeake.

When Blacks were barred from membership at Bide-A-Wee Golf Club, although it sat on city-owned land and Chandler Harper, Chair of the Board of Directors, denied the policy existed. Chandler declared that Blacks could be members if a current white member would vouch for them. No white members could be found who had done so, and the policy barring Black membership was exposed.

Councilman Elliott and Holley sought to force Chandler to drop the policy. But despite the media attention and legal efforts to circumvent the policy, change did not arrive until the 1990s.

In late 1978, Elliott announced his reelection to the council.  But in July of 1979, he was sworn in as Portsmouth’s first Black full-time General District Court Judge. “I decided that if the system was going to be changed, it had to be changed from the inside,” he was quoted in The GUIDE article at the time. “As a lawyer, being on council and now in the courts, I can achieve it.” He served as a no-nonsense jurist, especially to those charged with drug or worse offenses.

In the October 3, 1990 edition of the GUIDE, an article titled “Supporters stand by Judge Elliott,” revealed that he was the subject of an investigation by the state Judicial Review Commission for allegedly violating the civil rights of defendants charged with various criminal charges.

He was cleared and not only supported by the Black community, but a contingent of Portsmouth policemen also attended one session of his court to signal their support.

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On June 18, 1993, tragedy befell Judge Elliott. Archie Elliott III, the Judge’s 24-year -old son, was shot multiple times by two white District Heights, Maryland police officers. He was coming home from his job at a construction site when he was pulled over by the officers for allegedly driving erratically. Officers said he failed a sobriety test. 

Elliott, III, according to witnesses, did not resist. He was wearing only shorts and sneakers, was searched, handcuffed with his hands behind his back and seat belted in the front passenger seat of a police cruiser.

According to the officers, young Elliott was reaching for a small revolver and pointed it at them despite their command to drop it. The police officers  fired 22 rounds, striking Elliott multiple times and killing him. 

Months later, a grand jury failed to bring criminal charges against the officers, ruling the shooting was justified. In 1998, the Elliott family protested and filed civil grievances, without settlement.

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In 2004, Elliott Jr.  believed his seniority would be enough to be selected, on a rotating basis, Chief Judge. Instead, one of his White colleagues got the job. Elliott contested the decision with a scathing letter, claiming racism was a factor in the decision.

One of his white colleagues deemed his letter threatening and filed a complaint with the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission, however, the Commission recommended that the jurists settle their differences.

Under questionable circumstances, Judge Elliott was also being investigated for alleged misconduct in a drug trial over which he had presided.  The Commission suspended Elliott after investigating the alleged allegations for nearly two years.

Despite the questionable allegations, Judge Elliott eventually issued an apology to his fellow judges. The Virginia Supreme Court had no choice but to sanction Elliott, however, he was reinstated for one day, during which time  he agreed to retire on June 30, 2006.  On his last day in court, police officers and citizens filled the courtroom to give him a standing ovation.