Deadly Fight For Black Voting Rights
One Mic Black History Newsletter #25 - Go Vote
In 1946, Georgia witnessed a glimpse of hope for Black citizens who had been denied their voting rights for decades. The U.S. Supreme Court had struck down the pernicious white primaries “elections held in Southern states that excluded Black voters.” But this hopeful moment was met with a fierce and violent backlash, a revival of white supremacist terror that deeply scarred the state.
Eugene Talmadge, a figurehead of the backlash, he ran a gubernatorial campaign with the strategy to prevent Black citizens from voting and chillingly summed it up in one word “pistols.” This was a rallying cry, a promise of bloodshed to maintain white supremacy. In the wake of his electoral victory, terror swept across Georgia. Threatening messages were displayed in Black churches declaring, “The first nigger who votes Georgia will be a dead nigger.” This sinister message was all too real as a Black World War II veteran was murdered in Taylor County for exercising his right to vote. A chilling aftermath of this crime reiterated the deadly warning: Black political participation would not be tolerated.
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Black Suffrage
The post-Civil War era was marked by the monumental task of Reconstruction, aiming to re-stitch a nation torn by conflict and slavery. The liberation of approximately four million enslaved Black Americans in 1865 was codified by the 13th Amendment, but for Black Americans, true freedom extended beyond emancipation; it encompassed securing the full array of citizenship rights including the right to vote.
However, after Lincoln’s assassination, President Andrew Johnson’s lenient Reconstruction policies permitted former Confederate states significant leeway, leading to the enactment of Black Codes, which severely restricted the freedoms of newly freed African Americans.
Systemic barriers like literacy tests and poll taxes emerged to disenfranchise Black voters. The former order was meticulously re-imposed through these laws. In response, Black Americans organized and protested, demanding rights and suffrage. Their fervor spurred Radical Republicans in Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which aimed to establish Black Americans as citizens with basic rights. The 14th and 15th Amendments followed, granting citizenship and voting rights to Black men, ushering in a brief period of interracial democracy in the South. During Reconstruction, over 1500 African American men held public offices, from local sheriffs to congressional seats.
Yet with the Compromise of 1877 marked the end of Reconstruction. Federal troops withdrew from the South, leaving white Southerners free to dismantle reforms and disenfranchise Black voters once again. A slew of insidious tactics like poll taxes, property requirements, and literacy tests found their way around the 15th Amendment, alongside grandfather clauses and white primaries, disenfranchising Black Americans, while accommodating poor white voters. By 1904 in Louisiana, registered Black voters dwindled from 13,000 in 1896 to a mere 1,300.
Violence and intimidation was championed by the Ku Klux Klan reinforcing disenfranchisement. Lynching emerged as yet another tool of racial terror designed to stifle Black political involvement. Those daring to organize, register, or run for office often found themselves targets, the NAACP recorded nearly 3,500 lynchings from 1889 to 1922. The repercussions were stark and far-reaching: by the 20th century, African-American political representation had markedly declined, with no Black U.S. representatives from 1901 to 1929 and no Black senators until 1967.
In light of these challenges, Organizations like the NAACP, founded in 1909, rose to challenge discriminatory laws and sought justice through legal avenues. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference inaugurated The Crusade for Citizenship in 1958, aiming to double Black voter registration in the South. This initiative, along with movements like the Albany Movement and initiatives by SNCC during the 1960s, highlighted the ongoing fight for Black voting rights.
The SNCC took the fight directly to the South, emphasizing voter registration in Mississippi. Understanding that dismantling Jim Crow hinged on voting rights, SNCC activists braved harsh violence and staunch resistance from white supremacists. Tragically, the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer was marred by the murders of activists James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman, underscoring the deadly seriousness of the fight for justice. This violence continued during the pivotal Selma marches in 1965, whose brutal law enforcement response gripped national attention and helped usher in the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
SNCC's focus on voter registration encountered fierce and violent resistance, exemplified by the 1963 attack on members in Mississippi. The brutality culminated in the murders of activists James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman during the 1964 Freedom Summer project. The Selma marches in 1965, violently countered and broadcast nationally, further spotlighted the struggle, leading to the pivotal Voting Rights Act of 1965. This act dismantled voting barriers like literacy tests and introduced federal oversight in areas notorious for suppression, significantly increasing Black voter registration.
Despite this progress, suppression tactics persist, now subtler, such as felony disenfranchisement and voter ID laws. The 2000 election controversy in Florida underscored these challenges, exposing the fragility of Black voting rights. However, the subsequent rise in Black voter turnout, culminating in the historic election of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, marked new milestones. Yet, the 2013 Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which gutted key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, rekindled disenfranchisement tactics, echoing the past struggles.
Understanding this history is crucial as the battle for Black voting rights continues. The resilience and activism within Black communities serve as enduring reminders of the importance of safeguarding the right to vote. As I leave you with the words of John Lewis:
“The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent that you can have in a Democratic Society. You must use it because it’s not guaranteed. You can lose it.”
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