The last Congressional elections seriously undercut the old assumption that black Congressional candidates in the Deep South could not win in majority-white districts.

But in other majority-white districts like his, he added, "people are concerned about their own political hides."

Only a few majority-white districts, notably the Republican districts that elected Mr. Franks and Mr. Watts, have sent black or Hispanic Representatives to Congress.

J. C. Watts of Oklahoma and Gary Franks of Connecticut, African-American Republicans, were elected to Congress from majority-white districts; black Democrats have also done so.

Instead, it adopted the same lines that had already been drawn for the Police Jury, the local governing body, which had 12 majority-white districts.

The all-black municipal government in this town of 1,515 people, responding to complaints by whites who said they were not being fairly represented, agreed Tuesday to create a majority-white district in a new ward system.

This will create enormous pressure to preserve the seats of minority legislators, three Hispanic and four black, some from majority-white districts, not to mention accommodating the huge growth in Hispanic population.

They said the lower court had ignored the extent of racially polarized voting in Tennessee, which they said meant that no black candidate could hope to win in a majority-white district.

It is also the most Democratic majority-white district in the United States.

At issue was the Justice Department's refusal, in 1993, to approve a redistricting plan for a rural Louisiana school board that retained all 12 of the previous plan's majority-white districts.