#OnThisDay in 1890, Mississippi adopted a new state constitution aimed at barring Black voters and restoring white supremacy. The disenfranchisement clause struck all voters from the rolls and then required them to register again to vote — but only approved them if they paid poll taxes, could read and pass a quiz on the constitution.
“Dressed up in the genteel garb of bringing integrity to the voting booth,” ‘One Person, No Vote’ opined, “this feigned legal innocence was legislative evil genius.”
There was no mystery to those involved.
“There is no use to equivocate or lie about the matter,” future Gov. and U.S. Sen. James K. Vardaman declared, “Mississippi’s constitutional convention of 1890 was held for no other purpose than to eliminate the n—– from politics.”
The changes worked. Within a decade, the number of Black registered voters fell from more than 130,000 to less than 1,300. Other Southern states followed Mississippi’s lead, barring Black voters in every way they could. There were “grandfather clauses,” which required voters to have a grandfather who voted. There were even “white primaries,” where white Southern Democrats barred Black voters from their primaries.
“Jim Crow was never policed just by laws written out on paper,” according to ‘Our Unfinished March’. “It was enforced with broken bones and crushed skulls, with rope wrapped around trees and knots tied around necks, with bodies displayed in town squares or made to disappear at the bottom of rivers.”
Unlike Mississippi’s prior constitution, voters did not approve or ratify the document. The lone Black member of the constitutional constitution was Isaiah T. Montgomery, who was once enslaved by Jefferson Davis and had since helped found the all-Black town, Mount Bayou. Montgomery voted for the constitution, hoping this disenfranchisement might mean an end to violence against Black Mississippians. It didn’t.
https://t.co/Kbrpqrl02b
In 1963, John Lewis raised his voice to a crowd of more than 200,000 people at a protest march that would come to represent "the best of America."
Fifty years later, he spoke with Gwen Ifill about his experience at the Match on Washington. https://t.co/aL5DINCoj1
Today is a good day to remember the courage of #WW2 veteran & @NAACP leader Medgar Evers who fought on the battlefields of both France & Mississippi. Assassinated 60 years ago today. A wreath laying is slated for this morning at the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument.
The literacy test lingered, legally, until the #VotingRightsAct was signed on Aug. 6, 1965. More on the early days of this infamous test: https://t.co/cgWY1IQFEG (4/4)
OTD in 1857 #Massachusetts voters decided to make future voters prove their literacy by reading a randomly drawn sample of the state Constitution and signing their name. It was the second state to do so — after Connecticut. (Clipping: New England Farmer) (1/4)
Their tactics inspired others. The literacy test spread through the Northeast and Midwest. Then, 33 years later, Mississippi erected it with other hurdles meant to keep Blacks from voting despite the promises of the 15th Amendment. Other Southern states followed. (3/4)
On the surface, Harry Belafonte was a famous Black actor & singer, best known for “The Banana Boat Song” and “Carmen Jones.”
But people who knew him paint him not as a celebrity, but as a man deeply committed to human and civil rights.
via @ajc PLS RT
https://t.co/l7h1CV6xwD
1/2 Fifty-eight years ago today we laid my mother Viola Liuzzo to rest, 17 days after my 10th birthday, one I will never forget. Mom was so excited, telling me that I was no longer a little boy having reached the double digits. I was a young man.
“(A)ll of the American stories can be lensed through Atlanta.” — Congratulations and best of luck to new @ajc Editor-in-Chief @AJCLeroyChapman So excited for my #HometownNewspaper
I sat down with the AJC's new editor, @AJCLeroyChapman for a candid conversation about the future of the @ajc and the historic nature of his becoming the AJC's first Black editor-in-chief.
Video is included.
PLS RT
https://t.co/fvNB9WFCla
Merrimack's Borek Opens Up About Losing Josh Ciocco ... The Ups and Downs, the Bond that Goes Back 20 Years, and the Emotions of Getting Through This Season - https://t.co/B8mG2Uaa8F @MerrimackMIH
GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MATT COPPONI SENDS US TO THE HOCKEY EAST FINAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can’t wait to visit this statue of Xernona Clayton — three feet taller than she is in height, apparently, yet nowhere near tall enough to fully represent her life and influence. Great piece today @ErnieSuggs https://t.co/AIa5RC09iq