Sylvia Buford, 73, hasn’t always been able to vote.

The Birmingham resident spent her childhood in Camden, Ala., growing up alongside Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, she said. Now, Buford, the vice president of her neighborhood association, North Pratt in West Birmingham, takes her civic responsibilities seriously – and worries for the state’s future amid what Black voting rights activists say is a pivotal moment.

Buford braved the 96-degree weather on Monday for the community-organized, all-day rally at Kelly Ingram Park in support of Black voting rights for Alabama, just a block away from the federal courthouse where the state of Alabama was arguing for its newly redrawn congressional map.

In Alabama, Black residents make up more than one fourth of the state’s population, but form a majority in only one of the seven congressional districts.

This year the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Black voters and activists, who said current congressional district lines in Alabama violate the Voting Rights Act and called on the state to redraw its map with an additional district where Black residents are in the majority.

But the state’s new map didn’t do that.

“I remember when I couldn’t vote,” Buford said. “It was real bad, but now I’m hoping they do the right thing.”

The rally started at 8 a.m. on Monday and spread out across the park at the corner of 4th Avenue North and 17th Street North, behind the courthouse in the historic district, up to the Carver Theatre and down to Kelly Ingram Park. Local and statewide organizations including Alabama Forward, Greater Birmingham Ministries, ACLU of Alabama and Alabama Voting Rights Coalition organized the event, and several groups had tables. Musicians performed instrumental jazz and gospel music throughout the day, and organizers handed out food truck vouchers.

Buford said she came for a few reasons: to get some t-shirts for her nine-year-old great granddaughter, to get some exercise and to “meet some new friends.” But most importantly, she wanted to support the cause.

“They need to change the map,” she said. “People, please, please vote.”

Three federal judges met at Birmingham’s Hugo L. Black United States Courthouse on Monday to decide if the Alabama Legislature’s new map fixes the issues. The hearing wrapped up shortly before 3 p.m., and the parties have until Saturday to submit more filings. If the judges disagree with the state’s new map, they could have their hired cartographer draw a new one.

Onoyemi Williams, a Birmingham resident who helped organize Monday’s rally and serves as deputy director of Faith in Action Alabama, said she was hoping for a new congressional district for Black voters.

“There has been a tradition of, ‘Yeah, you can vote,’ but in district lines that does not reflect the power of the vote of the African American community by drawing lines that cut us up like a pizza and slice us up where we don’t have the power of our votes to enact change in the community,” she said. “The future looks like that we will have representation, that we’ll be intentional about giving us just laws and giving us funding for our communities so that we no longer have to live in desperation.”

Vonta McGhee drove up from Montgomery to volunteer at the rally.

“Voting is just not a privilege,” McGhee said. “It’s our right, and we’re here to make whatever cause that we can, whatever change that we can.”