Charles L. Weltner

Charles Longstreet Weltner (December 17, 1927 – August 31, 1992) was an American jurist and politician from the U.S. state of Georgia. Early years and education Weltner was born in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1948, he received a bachelor's degree from Oglethorpe University in suburban DeKalb County, Georgia. In 1950, he received a law degree from Columbia Law School in New York City. After serving two years in the United States Army, Weltner practiced law in Atlanta and worked to defeat Georgia's county-unit system and preserve the public school system after state leaders threatened to close the schools rather than integrate. Political career In 1962, Weltner was elected to represent Georgia's 5th congressional district in the House of Representatives as a Democrat. Weltner was one of only two Southern members of Congress to condemn the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963 by white supremacists that killed four girls and injured between 14 and 22 other people. He was the only member of the state's congressional delegation (and the only Democrat from the Deep South) to vote for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, commenting that "We must not remain forever bound to another lost cause." Weltner voted in favor of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.