The Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1931-1952, 1931-06-25
Fight Launched On
Jim Crow Laws


Continued from Page One.)
veyanees. In 81 states he may not
marry according to his choice.
The pamphlet is introduced with
foreword by a Southerner, Profess
sor Broadus Mitchell, of the faculty
of Johns Hopkins University in Bal
timore. Discrimination against the
Negro springs from hoary source
of fear, hatred, and suspicion, name
ly, from economic inferiority," de-
clares Professor Mitchell. "The Ne
gro has been oppressed because he
has low standard of living and lit
tie economic independence
I'VE speak, particularly in the
case of the South, of the superior
race. In the face of impositions
upon the Negro we content ourselves
in the reflection that the whites
are his betters, that in refusing So
eial generosity we are preserving
precious cultural integrity. We
have used this argument so readily
that we have failed to examine into
its truth. The fact is that the Ne
gro is put upon not because the gap
which separates him from the whites
is wide but because it is narrow"
Although no law denies the Negro
the right to vote, the Union explains
the laws in Southern states lay down
voting qualifications so that the
black man is generally barred from
the polls. "The white primary the
poll tax, educational tests, and the
grandfather clause are the chief
means of taking the vote from the
Negro. The white primary operates
by prohibiting Negroes from voting
in the Democratic primary"
Since many poor and illiterate
whites would have been disfranchis-
ed by the property and educational
tests, the grandfather clause" was
added to state constitutions. This
permitted an applicant to vote if he
had been a voter or soldier in 1866,
or if he were a descendant of such
voter or soldier Negroes were
not voters in 1866. Though the
grandfather clause has been success
fully attacked in the U. S. Supreme
Court, it is still used in many sec.
lions of the South. Various states
have failed to eliminate that clause
from their constitutions.
Fifteen Southern states have jim
Crow laws. Negroes are segregated
from whites on trains land in most
Southern cities on street cars and
buses. The U. S. Supreme Court
has lent sanction to the Jim Grow
tradition. In one Louisiana case
it held that the Jim Grow law did
not violate the Constitution. But in
another Louisiana case the statute
was declared unconstitutional be-
cause it intefferred with interstate
commerce. Jim Grow laws have
since been phrased so as to apply
specifically in interstate commerce.
Usually the Negro accommodations
on trains are inferior and INSULT.
cient, the survey shows. The real
part of the baggage car is frequent.
ly used as the Negro day-coach. Be.
ing Immediately behind the tender il
gets most of the smoke and cinders
Although there may be plenty OF
seats in other coaches, Negroes, ever
mothers with children, must STAND
when there are no seats in their
limited quarters.
School segregation, with separate
schools for Negroes and white chill.
dren, is enforced in seventeen states
and in the District of Columbia In
addition, school boards in Arizona
Indiana, Kansas, and Wyoming are
given discretion to establish separate
schools. Philadelphia and certain
Ohio cities also have separate schoo
facilities.
when school funds are appor.
toned" the Union states, "the Ne
gro, who contributes on an equa
basis to the funds, gets what is
left after the whites are cared for
Since the World War 100000
Negroes have migrated from South
to North. Their invasion of white
residential districts has been fierce
ly resented Municipal segregation
laws have been passed in various cit
les, but these were successfully
fought in the courts.
With such segregation illegal, say
the Civil Liberties Union, Other
means have been used by the white,
to effect that end-mob violence, in
timidation, covenants among proper
ty-owners not to sell or rent to blacI
folk. In the latter type of discrim