WE ARE THE 1866 ACTION FUND, an Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee (OCPF 81103) in Massachusetts raising funds to execute paid media campaigns and grassroots mobilization efforts seeking to elect Black candidates to local political office across the Commonwealth.

ON NOVEMBER 6, 1866, just one year after the end of the Civil War, Massachusetts voters elected the first Black members of the Massachusetts General Court: Edward Garrison Walker, a lawyer from Charlestown, and Charles Lewis Mitchell, a printer in Boston’s Beacon Hill and Back Bay. In the early years of the reconstruction era, Walker and Mitchell worked to turn their communities interests and needs into legislation, policy and law.

SINCE THEN, there have been more than 50 Black legislators elected between 1866 and 2023, including the 1960’s and 70’s when more African Americans ran for public office and served in the Massachusetts Legislature than ever before. Massachusetts voters elected the first Black Woman to serve in the legislature in Doris Bunte, with the Black and Latino Caucus forming the same year.

WE WORK TO ELECT BLACK LEADERS in every corner of the Commonwealth, starting with local office. In Massachusetts, six hundred City Councillors serve in 59 communities and nearly 1,200 members of the select board, established in 1929, serve in 292 towns. At a time when our Commonwealths 351 cities and towns are growing more diverse, we have a unique opportunity to elect Black residents that grasp the evolving communities needs.

WE WILL ENDORSE AND ELECT LEADERS to City Council, Town Council, Select Board, State Representative, State Senate, District Attorney, Sheriff, School Committee, State Committee, Governor’s Council, etc. We seek to activate voters by focusing on paid media campaigns consisting of direct mail, digital advertising, text to vote and broadcast advertising opportunities as well as grassroots organizing efforts.

The 1866 ACTION FUND WILL NOT WORK TO ELECT CANDIDATES FOR EXECUTIVE OFFICE including Mayor or any of the five Constitutional Offices of the Commonwealth.

Join us on this journey.
Build with us.
And let’s elect leaders that represent our communities.