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Mississippi Vote Laws Do Effective Job Of Disfranchising Many Negroes in State
By Tom Coffman
There is a badly worn racist joke about a Mississippi Negro who went to the courthouse to take the literacy test so that he might vote. The voter registrar handed the Negro a newspaper and asked, "What does that sav?"
Summer Session Kansan
A poor joke, but not one to be forgotten—for the state's voter laws and their application are as effective as the Chinese newspaper to disfranchise a Negro of the right to vote in much of the state. Indeed, more legal requirements stand between the citizen and the ballot box in Mississippi than in any other state.
The newspaper was printed in Chinese characters, but the would-be voter studied it carefully, pondered a moment, and replied, "This say they ain't going to be no black folks vote in Mississippi this year."
THE LEGAL ASPECT of disfranchisement has a weird and tortuous history, beginning in 1890. The main suffrage-limiting laws which still exist today are:
- A requirement of two-year residence in the state and one-year residence in the voting district.
- Registration four months before the election. (This law makes it impossible for anyone registering after July 3 to vote in the next election. Note that a Negro who might have registered successfully as part of the Mississippi Project registration drive will not vote in the upcoming election.)
- A payment of a $2 poll tax, plus possibly an additional dollar to be levied at the discretion of the local registrar. (Poll tax as a prerequisite to voting in a national election was recently made illegal by the
25th Amendment to the Constitution. Several southern states, including Mississippi, quickly passed a law which retained poll tax payment in state elections.)
(Sections 19 and 20—the catchalls which obviously could eliminate anyone—have been declared unconstitutional by a three-judge federal panel in Panola County. The case is now on appeal in Federal Circuit Court, and the two sections remain as requirements for the present.)
- A LITERACY requirement. Applicants are given a copy of the Mississippi constitution, and one section is designated for them to read and then be copied on a blank sheet of paper. In other words, it is a test which requires the voter to prove his ability to read and write.
- A comprehensive test of the Mississippi constitution. In this section (Section 19), the applicant must give a written interpretation, in his own words, of any section of the constitution which the registrar designates. Since the question is totally subjective, it is up to the registrar whether the applicant passes or fails.
- An understanding of duties of citizenship (Section 20), which requires the applicant to state in writing what he believes to be his duties as a citizen of Mississippi and the United States.
- Conviction of certain crimes disqualifies a potential voter. The list includes arson, bigamy, bribery, burglary, etc.
IN ADDITION, state law requires that the name of anyone who takes the test must be published in the local newspaper three times during a period of two weeks. Civil rights workers of the Mississippi Project
say that only Negro applicants' names are published.
In reality, this particular law assures the white community the chance for reprisals against the Negro applicant—threats of violence, actual violence, firing a man from his job, cutting off buying credit, and other forms of coercion. As one Mississippi white put it, a black man who tries to vote is "no longer considered a good nigger."
HISTORIANS NOTE that since 1890 the number of Negro voters, always negligible, has varied in a pattern corresponding to the fears and hatred of the white community. Recent census statistics bear out this theory. In 1950 there were about 22,000 registered Negro voters.
Apprehension of civil rights action began in the 1951-1953 period with a subsequent reaction, which was catalyzed by the 1954 Supreme Court ruling on integration of schools. By 1960 there were only about 8,000 Negro voters remaining on the roles.
Before the great migrations to the North the majority of Mississippi were Negro (once 55 per cent, now 43 per cent), and during the days of Reconstruction Mississippi had a Negro governor and a legislature dominated by Negroes. When Reconstruction was ended a process of terrorism and intimidation began which eliminated most of the Negro vote long before the disfranchisement acts were set out in the 1890 Constitutional Convention.
Needless to say, the student civil rights volunteers who trudge through the heat and dust of the Negro communities this summer are not meeting with overwhelming success in terms of producing Negro voters.
Pastore a Tough Senate Leader
By United Press International
Pastore earned his debating honors in one of the toughest clubs in the world—the U.S. Senate, where every member considers himself an expert.
Sen. John O. Pastore, the keynoteer for next month's Democratic national convention, is a little man with a big voice.
Friday, July 31, 1964
Bouncy and energetic, the 5-foot 5-inch Pastore is the first Italian-American to sit in the Senate, and he did it the hard way.
The son of an immigrant tailor, he was left fatherless at an early age. He helped support his family, while at the same time managing to work his way through high school and the Northeastern University Law School.
Next he took on Rhode Island politics with the same strategy—start at the bottom. He was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives in 1934, re-elected in 1936, was named fifth assistant state attorney general in 1937, assistant state attorney general in 1940, lieutenant governor in 1944, governor in 1946 and US senator in 1950.
Since coming to the Senate, Pastore has made a name for himself as chairman of the House-Senate Atomic Energy Committee, and as second ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee. He is a staunch administration backer.
The 2.150 prospective freshmen at previews represent more than a 25 per cent increase over 1963 figures. The attendance of about 400 transfer students is a 14 per cent increase.
Previewer Total Sets New Record
A record high of 2,556 prospective freshmen and transfer students attended the 11 KU Previews this summer, an increase of about 500 over 1963.
Processing of applications is not far enough along to determine how much of the record Preview attendance is from greater popularity of the 2-day orientation or from a larger number of applicants.
However, the September new student total, which also will include new graduate and law students should set a new record of more than 4,000.
KU Selects Holton as Setting For Study of Aging Question
No one knows what will happen. Not even the folks of Holton, who will give their ideas and energy to the venture.
Not even the University of Kansas, which is providing the staff to shepherd the venture.
Holton was named this week as the setting for the undertaking, a three-year research and demonstration project aimed at mobilizing resources of aging people for community service. Sixteen other Kansas communities had been considered.
A grant to the KU department of social work from the National Institute of Mental Health, United States Public Health Service, is financing the project.
HOLTON WAS CHOSEN for a number of reasons, all of which will benefit the project, explained Mary L. Wylie, project director and KU instructor of social work.
FINALLY, HOLTON was chosen because a significant proportion of its population is in the 65-year-and-over age category. Nearly 25 per cent of its total population falls in this group, compared with 11 per cent for Kansas. The state ranks eighth in the nation in percentage of persons in this category.
"There is a certain community pride in Holton," she said. "The people have a tradition of attacking community problems in unique and effective ways." As examples she listed Holton's early establishment of a city manager program and community efforts to attract industry.
The project is an outgrowth of observation made in a community aging project completed last fall in Marion County, Kansas. It was sponsored by the Ford Foundation and directed by Esther E. Twente, professor of social work and a co-director of the Holton project.
Also, Holton is near the resources of the University of Kansas and other state agencies which will contribute their help if it is needed.
"The Marion County project demonstrated that many of a community's elderly citizens possess an array of talents which are not being utilized by their community," Miss Wylie said.
THE MARION PROJECT also noted a dwindling productive population group in many of the state's smaller communities, she said. At the same time a growing number and proportion of aging residents are having an increasing influence on all community decisions.
"When involvement by the aging does take place, many of the expressed needs of the aging are reduced," she continued.
In the light of the Marion County project, the Holton project will have as its goal the involvement of aging residents in community planning efforts.
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