In 1973, Richmond D. Hill became the first African American elected mayor of a municipality in Georgia. Following the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, the NAACP began a campaign to educate, organize, and register rural African American voters. Hill, a local member of the NAACP, was instrumental in leading Black voter participation efforts in Meriwether County. This grassroots effort led to his becoming the county's and the city of Greenville's first Black councilman in 1968. His successful campaign for the mayor's office in Greenville illustrated the impact of the Civil Rights Movement and voter registration efforts in rural communities of Georgia. Elections across the country in 1973 also brought a wave of Black elected officials. Hill served the city for nearly a decade and died in 1992.