Norrell begins the book with the story of James Alston, the local black Republican leader who returned home from a Republican meeting and was sent to bed by an explosion of gunfire, wounding him and his pregnant wife. Since the title of this chapter is “Perfect Stillness, Peace and Harmony,” it is evident that nothing the title implies is actually the case. Norrell goes on to describe the events during Reconstruction and the feud between Republicans and Democrats. A political battle of intimidation and fraud erupted as Democrats and white conservatives regained political control. After this battle, blacks began planning to leave Alabama, but whites needed this to maintain economic control. Thus, the idea was born to create a black school to not only keep blacks in the community and in the workforce, but to attract more blacks and expand the workforce. Booker T. Washington arrived at Tuskegee in 1881 with the creation of the Tuskegee Institute for blacks. This school exuded the feeling of a model community where conflict and racial tension seemed nonexistent. The white citizens of Tuskegee were happy with their control over blacks, especially since most of the funding and advice for the school came from white conservatives. However, their satisfaction with the conditions of 1880 would later backfire on both the white and black civilians of Tuskegee. Soon after Booker T. Washington's death, Charles Gomillion became the black leader of the civil rights movement. Before his arrival, a hospital was built at Tuskegee, which first brought racial conflict to the community. However, the hospital soon opened jobs for blacks, creating another black institution... middle of paper... conservative control over the community. As more blacks accumulated in the community, the more the definition of whites was noticed and the more quickly action was taken against it. This action had begun with Charles Gomillion and his inability to accept white conservative control. Gomillion was determined to register as a voter and was successful in 1939, five years after he began applying. He began encouraging all blacks in the community to register as well, which prompted the state legislature to redraw the city limits to maintain conservative control and keep voting rights away from blacks. This gerrymandering outraged Gomillion and his supporters, who quickly took the matter to court. At first, gerrymandering was declared legitimate by Judge Johnson, who simply followed the law, even though he realized it would hinder his belief in integration and civil rights..