Volma Overton Sr. was a civil rights pioneer in Austin. He brought a hard-fought lawsuit to desegregate Austin schools – and brought his school-aged children with him to Austin’s segregated places, pushing against the racial boundaries of the time.
One of those children is Volma Overton Jr. KUT News recently sat down with him to talk about another front his father fought on: changing Austin’s form of at-large elections, where all candidates for City Council have to run citywide.
"What dad, at that time, was really looking for was representation," Overton says:
"Because we really did not have representation on the council for the eastside area, And there were many things that were needed on the eastside that were always neglected, and passed on, and actually never addressed."
You can listen to the entire interview in the player above.
Tonight, KUT joins KLRU TV- Austin PBS and the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life for “Why Bother? Austin After 10-1.”
The forum will take an in-depth look at how the change to the Austin City Council's structure will impact voters. You can RSVP here.
