Robert A. "Bob" Holmes

Robert A. "Bob" Holmes is an American politician and Georgia legislator.

Education

Holmes earned a B.S. in political science at Shepherd University in 1964, an M.A. in public law and government at Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in political science at Columbia University at the age of 25.

Academic career

Until his retirement in 2005 from Clark Atlanta University, Holmes was Director of the Southern Center for Studies in Public Policy and Distinguished Professor of Political Science. He served as the editor of two annual publications, Georgia Legislative Review and The Status of Black Atlanta. He has testified an expert witness in numerous civil rights lawsuits. Holmes has authored, co-authored, or edited more than 60 articles, chapters, and reviews and 25 books and monographs. He has served on the editorial advisory boards of the Review of Black Political Economy, Phylon, and the Journal of Social and Behavioral Sciences as well as being a chair, panelist, local arrangements chair, and paper presenter at more than 150 conferences.

Political career

Holmes served as a State Representative in the Georgia General Assembly, from 1974 to 2008. In 2006, Holmes was re-elected as a Democrat to his seventeenth term, repreenting the 53rd House district (Parts of Clayton, Fayette, and Fulton Counties). He was a committee member of Appropriations and Rules and served as Chairman of the Education Committee. He was the first African-American in the history of the General Assembly to serve on the Budget Subcommittee. He served as chair of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus (GLBC) in 1990-91. At that time Georgia was considering the reapportionment of its Congressional district. GLBC wanted three majority black districts. A black State Senator chaired the Senate Reapportionment Committee but the legislature passed a plan with only two majority black districts. That plan did not get clearance from the US Department of Justice under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Then the legislature passed a plan with three majority black district, which was overturned in Miller v. Johnson. Then, the Georgia Senate adopted a plan with one majority black district, which failed to pass the House. A federal court had to adopt a plan to break the impasse. Ultimately, the court adopted a plan with just one majority black district, but all three incumbent black Congressmen managed to be reelected. Over his career, Holmes successfully sponsored or co-sponsored more than 200 laws that have been passed in the Georgia General Assembly.

Distinctions

Holmes serves on the Board of Directors of the Capital City Bank and Trust, the JOMANDI Theater Company, the Sickle Cell Foundation, the Road Runners Club of America and the Metro-Atlanta YMCA.

Part of Interstate 285 was named in his honor, from Interstate 85 in South Fulton County to Interstate 20.

In 2001 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Shepherd University.

External links

• Legislative Website
• Metro Atlanta YMCA Official Site

Further reading

• Walton, Jr, Hanes (1994). Black politics and Black political behavior: a linkage analysis. Praeger. ISBN 978-0275949884. 
• Holmes, Robert A., "Reapportionment Strategies for the 1990s: The Case of Georgia", chapter in Race and Redistricting in the 1990's edited by Bernard Grofman Algora Publishing (August 2003) ISBN 978-0875862620