Portland Observer
freedom and economic opportu
nity. These immigrants flocked
to the Northern urban centers:
Irish, Italians, Jews, Eastern
Europeans.
They came and
started not quite at the bottom of
the economic and political ladder,
but rather on the backs of other
Americans already here - Black
Americans.
These immigrants were not
denied the right to vote, rather
they were encouraged to do so.
The big city machines gathered
them up as they got off the
boats, provided them with much
needed immediate services (find
ing jobs for them, providing
pushcart licenses, helping them
become naturalized citizens) and
mobilized them politically. They
learned the political skills of
precinct and ward organization,
how to register voters and turn
to the voters at election time,
how to understand the compli
cated rules of the election ma
chinery. And all the time Blacks
were being systematically and
deliberately excluded from the
political process.
What followed was of extreme
importance for anyone trying to
understand the Black citizen s
struggle for political equality for
Black Americans, who had start
ed to learn the political process of
mobilization, bargaining, voting
and accountability; Black people
who had used their votes to
obtain badly needed schools and
other social legislation now had
to turn their attention to a
seventy year (roughly from 1890
1985) struggle to re-establish the
legal right merely to register and
to vote.
Blacks Used The Courts
Thus. Blacks turned to the
courts. They had to interrupt
the legitimate work of men like
Lewis Adams and Hiram Revels
and others, the work of using the
ballot as a means of protecting
their interests. Instead ot, like
the European unmigrants, learn
ing the skills of the precinct
captain. Blacks now had to be
come astute legal plaintiffs. In
stead of developing heritage of
ward leaders, Blacks had to
become protesters.
And so they went to the
courts.
Black people read the language
of the 15th Amendment to the
U.8. Constitution: "The right of
citizens of the United States to
vote shall not be denied or
r !
Section II
Thursday, February 23. 1978
Page 7
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''B E X
!
Picture: Library of Congress
abridged by the United States or
by any State on account of race,
color, or previous condition of
servitude. The Congress shall
have power to enforce this article
by ap p ro p riate le g is la tio n ."
(1970)
The Beech and the Ballet
In 1915, the U.S. Supreme
Court, in Guinn vs. U.S., de
clared the "grandfather clause"
in Oklahoma unconstitutional.
The state of Oklahoma had
amended its constitution in 1910
to provide that all persons could
vote in the state who were able
to read and w rite any section of
the state constitution.
This
requirement was to apply to “no
person who was, on J a n u a ry i t
1886, or at any time prior there-’
to. entitled to vote under any
form of government, or who at
that time resided in some foreign
nation, and no lineal descendant
of such person shall be denied the
right to register and vote be
cause of his inability to so read
and write sections of such consti
tion.” Because the court could
find no “discernible reason” in
setting up the 1866 standard
other than to get around the 15th
Amendment, the state provision
was declared unconstitutional.
Had the grandfather clause
been upheld, it would have been
a foolproof method for disfran
chisement of the Blacks.
Then the Southern states turn
ed to another method: exclusive
white primaries. Primary elec
tions in the South were vitally
important, because the South
was dominated by one party...the
fucu/UTiatiiian^iaice
Parr Lomber Company
6250 N.E. Union Ave.
JRMARTINLUTHER KING
Nate Hartley Oil Co.
2330 N.E. Alberta
282-5539
NOT EMBRACE NON-
VIOLENCE OUT OF FEAR OR
COWARDICE. HE CHALLENGED
INJUSTICE WITHOUT A GUN!'
Ot.UtMAMHfHAYS
695-0681