Raphael Benjamin West (March 31, 1911 – November 20, 1974) was an American attorney and politician who served as mayor of Nashville from 1951 to 1963, and as a Tennessee state senator from 1949 to 1951.
While a state senator, he supported a change from at-large to single-member district voting to the Nashville City Council.
This represented a major opportunity for African-American voters, as it enabled minorities whose votes were concentrated in a few wards to elect candidates of their choice.
West championed the cause of reapportionment in the landmark case Baker v. Carr (1962), by which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the "one man, one vote" principle.
This ruling forced reapportionment of state legislatures across the country; as a result, there was a shift of political power to the more densely populated urban districts and cities.
[1] West's strong alliance with Nashville's black community helped improve race relations and prepare the city for the challenges of the activist years of the Civil Rights Movement.
[2] West appointed a biracial commission, and the Nashville business community quickly agreed to desegregate department store lunch counters.
[1] With an interest in improving services, West supported the consolidation of the city government with that of Davidson County proposed in 1958 and 1963.