Memphis, Tennessee - Black voters in southern US states like Tennessee are struggling to find a political voice after Republican redistricting efforts targeted majority-Black seats in multiple states.

For Jadu Bin Ahmed Bin Hassan, a 76-year-old African American who grew up in segregated Memphis, a move by Republicans to split the majority-Black city among three congressional districts smacks of the racist policies of last century.

"As a child, you couldn't even go to certain stores… because they would not sell to you. You see, it was so prejudiced and so racist here," he said of Tennessee. "And it still is, and it's not changing, right? It's not changing."

Dressed in a beige suit and a silk scarf, Bin Hassan spoke to the AFP at the Memphis Islamic Center as it hosted a candidate forum, during which voters could also learn about the new districts.

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Tennessee's Republican-controlled legislature redrew the congressional map in May, days after the US Supreme Court rolled back civil rights protections that had ensured at least one of the state's nine districts remained majority Black.

That district had been Tennessee's 9th, which encompassed Memphis and was reliably won by Democrats.

The new map splits Memphis up among three districts stretching far out into rural Tennessee, areas expected to be won by the GOP.

Many African Americans like Bin Hassan worry that under the new maps, their voices will not count in the November midterm elections.

After Tennessee redrew its maps, several other Republican-majority Southern states followed suit.

"There's definitely some angst because [people] know that the black vote has been diluted in Memphis," said Reverend Earle Fisher, pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church and founder of the advocacy group, Up The Vote 901.

"There is chaos because some people don't even know what district they might be in now," said the pastor, who organizes civic education sessions for congregants.