Creator:
Laughlin McDonald
Extent:
2.5 Linear Feet
Dates:
1986
Collection Summary:
Transcripts of Proceeding from Windy Boy vs. Big Horn County
Languages:
English
Processing Archivist:
Jon Ille
Collection Description:
The Laughlin McDonald Collection includes the trial transcripts, motions, orders, and decisions from the Windy Boy vs. Big Horn County case in 1986.
Relationship to Other Collections:
This collection includes the trial proceedings from Windy Boy vs. Big Horn County, while the Jeffery Renz papers include the research and depositions for the case. Working together, both collections give a full archival account of the case.
Biographical Information:
Laughlin McDonald received his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and his J.D. from the University of Virginia. In 1972, McDonald joined the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as director of its Voting Rights Project in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to his position with the ACLU, McDonald taught at the University of North Carolina Law School and practiced privately.
In his role with the ACLU, he assisted in numerous cases regarding voting across the United States. He argued these cases in front of the Supreme Court, district courts, and lower courts of appeals. McDonald has also testified before Congress on numerous occasions in regards to voting and civil rights issues. Beyond his legal activities, McDonald is the author of several books, including A Voting Rights Odyssey: Black Enfranchisement in Georgia, and American Indians and the Fight for Equal Voting Rights.
McDonald is currently Special Counsel and Director Emeritus of the ACLU Voting Rights Project.
Background to Windy Boy vs. Big Horn County
According to the 1980 United States census, Native Americans accounted for forty one percent of the population of Big Horn County in south-central Montana. In Hardin, the largest town and county seat indigenous peoples accounted for a scant eleven percent of the population and a majority of the county’s Euro-American population resided in this one community. Native peoples, most Crows and Northern Cheyennes, were the majority of the population across most of the land base of the county. Despite accounting for forty percent of the county’s population, no Native American had been elected to any level of county government: county commission or school board. Euro-American politicians created at large districts for county offices, which meant that the slightly larger white population could outvote Native candidates due to racial voting blocks in Big Horn County.
As a result of their political power in Big Horn County, Euro-Americans dominated hiring and subsequently employment in county jobs. They hired friends and relatives regardless of qualifications for the positions. Janine Pease Windy Boy, then president of Little Big Horn College, noticed that when qualified Native peoples applied for jobs their application were ignored. The domination of local governmental hiring practices further bolstered structures of racial control that extended to most aspects of daily life by the Euro-American who dominated the county politically and economically.
Pease Windy Boy’s realization of racialized hiring practices in Big Horn County set in motion Native peoples attempts to gain greater representation in county government. These initial efforts failed because of the at large districts in the county. Pease Windy Boy and others realized that legal action was the only means to break the political stranglehold on elected office in Big Horn County. Beginning in 1983, the seeds of the voting rights case in Big Horn County began to germinated and by 1986 a trial began in federal district court in Billings, Montana. The trial illustrated not just racism in county politics, but also how it dominated nearly every aspect of life. The federal court found in favor of the plaintiff’s and forced Big Horn County to abandon at large districts and to create three districts based on geographic location. In the 1988 election, a Native candidate won their election to the county commission.
According to the 2010 United States census, Native Americans account for sixty four percent of the Big Horn County population and presently two of the three members of the county commission are Crows.
Arrangement Description:
The collection follows original order following the testimony in the case from opening argument to closing arguments and the district court’s decision.
Provenance:
The collection resided with Laughlin McDonald in his offices in Atlanta Georgia. He transferred the papers to Jeffery Renz, who brought them to Little Big Horn College.
Box Lists:
Box 1A:
Folder 1- Transcript of Proceedings, I
Folder 2- Transcript of Proceedings, II
Folder 3- Transcript of Proceedings, III
Folder 4- Transcript of Proceedings, IV
Box 1B:
Folder 5- Transcript of Proceedings, V
Folder 6- Transcript of Proceedings, VI
Folder 7- Transcript of Proceedings, VII
Box 1C:
Folder 8- Transcript of Proceedings, VIII
Folder 9- Transcript of Proceedings, IX
Box 2A:
Folder 1- Motions, Orders, and Decisions, I
Folder 2- Motions, Orders, and Decisions, II
Folder 3- Motions, Orders, and Decisions, III
Folder 4- Motions, Orders, and Decisions, IV
Folder 5- Motions, Orders, and Decisions, V
Box 2B:
Folder 6- Motions, Orders, and Decisions, VI
Folder 7- Motions, Orders, and Decisions, VII
Folder 8- Motions, Orders, and Decisions, VIII
Folder 9- Motions, Orders, and Decisions, IX
Folder 10- Motions, Orders, and Decisions, X
Folder 11- Motions, Orders, and Decisions, XI
Box 3B:
Folder 12- Motions, Orders, and Decisions, XII
Folder 13- Motions, Orders, and Decisions, XIII
Folder 14- Motions, Orders, and Decisions, XIV
Folder 15- Exhibits, I
Folder 16- Exhibits, II
Folder 17- Exhibits, III