Austin City Council Election 1971

The 1971 election marked a watershed in Austin politics. That was the first year in which citizens were able to directly elect the mayor (Roy Butler), based on a city charter change approved in 1969 that also expanded the council from five members to seven members.

The 1971 election was also historic for being the first election in which an African American (Berl Handcox) won a seat on the Austin City Council (although the first African-American alderman, Scipio Thompson, was elected in 1873). Latinos did not make that breakthrough until 1975, Asian Americans 2005.