128th Georgia General Assembly

{{Short description|Term of state legislature in US state of Georgia}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox legislative session

| name = 128th Georgia General Assembly

| image = File:Seal of Georgia.svg

| image_size = 125px

| alt = Great Seal of the State of Georgia

| caption = Great Seal of the State of Georgia

| body = Georgia General Assembly

| meeting_place = Capitol Building - Atlanta

| election =

| government =

| term_start =

| term_end =

| before = 127th

| after = 129th

| chamber1 = Senate

| chamber1_image =

| chamber1_image_size =

| chamber1_alt =

| membership1 = 54

| control1 = Democratic Party

| chamber1_leader1_type = President of the Senate

| chamber1_leader1 = Peter Zack Geer

| chamber1_leader2_type =

| chamber1_leader2 =

| chamber2 = House of Representatives

| chamber2_image =

| chamber2_image_size =

| chamber2_alt =

| membership2 = 180

| control2 = Democratic Party

| chamber2_leader1_type = Speaker of the House

| chamber2_leader1 = George T. Smith

| chamber2_leader2_type =

| chamber2_leader2 =

| session1_start = {{Start date|1965|01|11}}

| session1_end = {{End date|1965|01|22}}

| session2_start = {{Start date|1966|01|10}}

| session2_end = {{End date|1966|02|18}}

| special_session1_start = {{Start date|1965|02|08}}

| special_session1_end = {{End date|1965|03|12}}

}}

The 128th Georgia General Assembly convened its first session on January 13, 1965, at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta. The 128th Georgia General Assembly succeeded the 127th and served as the precedent for the 129th in 1967.

Governor Carl Sanders, who was elected in 1962 as the first governor elected by popular vote since 1908, spearheaded a massive reapportionment of Georgia's General Assembly and 10 U.S. Congressional districts, providing more proportional representation to the state's urban areas.{{cite web |url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/carl-sanders-b-1925 |title=Carl Sanders |last1=Cook |first1=James F. |date=September 12, 2002 |website=New Georgia Encyclopedia |access-date=12 August 2013}} This, as well as passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 had opened voter registration to blacks, saw eleven African Americans elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in special elections in 1965 and 1966. By ending the disfranchisement of blacks through discriminatory voter registration, African Americans regained the ability to vote and entered the political process.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=owfkLL-gvXAC&q=julian+bond+one+of+eight+african+americans+elected+to+the+georgia+house+1965&pg=PA141 | title =Democracy Restored: A History of the Georgia State Capitol | author =Timothy Crimmins, Anne H. Farrisee | author2 =University of Georgia Press | isbn =978-0820329116 | pages =140–144 | year =2007}} This was the first time that African-Americans had sat in the House since W. H. Rogers of McIntosh resigned his seat in 1907 during the 99th Assembly. Among them were six from Atlanta (William Alexander, Julian Bond, Benjamin D. Brown, Julius C. Daugherty Sr., J. D. Grier, Grace Towns Hamilton, John Hood) and one each from Columbus (Albert Thompson) and Augusta (Richard Dent). Horace T. Ward also joined Leroy Johnson as the second African-American in the State Senate.