Literacy and the Right to Vote. CLSA Reports: Information Bulletin, No. 2, May 15, 1962.
This information bulletin is a publication of the Commission on Law and Social Action of the <a href="https://ajcongress.org/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="American Jewish Congress website">American Jewish Congress</a>. The four-page document, written by CLSA director <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/07/obituaries/leo-pfeffer-83-lawyer-on-staff-of-the-american-jewish-congress.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="New York Times obituary of Leo Pfeffer ">Leo Pfeffer</a>, discusses the topic of literacy tests and voter registration, particularly as a tool of discrimination against Black and immigrant voting. Pfeffer also considers literacy in languages other than English. <br /><br />This American Jewish Congress bulletin is from the National Conference of Christians and Jews, Religious Freedom and Public Affairs Project and is part of a resource files on discrimination in voting. It discusses the use of literacy tests as a means to prevent voting. <br /><br /><br />Excerpts: <br />p.1 Today, however there is no widespread demand that literacy tests for voters be completely abolished. What is in issue is the use of such tests to discriminate against members of minority ethnic groups. The major victims in the South are the Negroes and in New York Puerto Ricans who are literate only in Spanish and Jews literate only in Yiddish. <br /><br />It is no accident that literacy tests should be so popular in the South. Their origin is to be found in the search by the Southern states to find ways to defeat the objective of the 15th Amendment which sought to secure the Negro's right to vote. Among other (e.g., poll tax, white promaries, etc.) the literacy test was hit upon as such a device. While this did effectively bar the polls to many Negroes, it had the disadvantage from the Southerner's viewpoint of also disenfranchising many whites who likewise were illiterate. To get around this, the "grandfather clause" was invented. This was a provision in the statute which exempted from the requirement of literacy anyone who was a descendant of a person who voted before 1866, in effect meaning any white person. <br /><br />p.2 Typical of the administration of literacy tests in the South is the explanation given by a Louisiana registrar to an investigator of the Civil Right Commission for her practice of asking for constitutional interpretations only from Negro applicants: "Usually, I find that the white people are more intelligent along those lines and I very seldom ask them; but some of the colored people -- I can determine by the way they fill out their card that they are not intelligent in these respects." <br /><br />To meet this problem the Civil Rights Commission unanimously recommended that any state law requirement of literacy as a prerequisite to the right to vote shall be deemed satisfied if the applicant shows that he completed six years of instruction in elementary school. A number of measures along this line have been introduced in Congress. <br /><br />p.3 Southern spokesmen argue that these bills are unconstitutional because they interfere with states rights. They contend that if a Negro is discriminated against his only relief is to sue in the courts. <br />However, both the 14th and 15th Amendments specifically provide that Congress shall have the power to enforce their provisions by appropriate legislation....Enactment by Congress of the proposal recommended by the Civil Rights Commission would show that Congress realizes that it too shares responsibility in the struggle for equality. <br /><br /><br />p. 4 There is a valid reason to deny the right to vote to persons who have not yet reached the age of maturity, or to those whose limited mental capacities render them unable to handle their own affairs. There is no valid reason to deny the ballot to a person who is competent to exercise intelligent judgment in respect to the issues of the day and the candidates for public office simply because he acquired his knowledge in one rather than another language.
Commission on Law and Social Action of the American Jewish Congress
<span><a href="https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/11/resources/2434" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="finding aid">National Conference of Christians and Jews records (SW0092)</a>. </span><a href="https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll453:11061/p16022coll453:11057?child_index=19&query=&sidebar_page=7" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll453:11061?q%3D%2522Voting%2Brights%2522&source=gmail&ust=1596631787427000&usg=AFQjCNE-srMJQt7FYy6BeuKGvSaecsHldQ" rel="noopener" title="University of Minnesota Libraries UMedia digital collections">Special Projects. Religious Freedom and Public Affairs Project. Discrimination in Voting. (Box 18, Folder 19)</a> Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries
1962 May 15
Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries
NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES<br /><br />The organization that has made the Item available believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Item may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. <br /><br /><a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/</a>
Every Man His Own Law [cover title: In those days there was no king in Israel...]
<span>This booklet was distributed by the Virginia Commission on Constitutional Government (VCCG) . Led by David J. Mays, a prominent lawyer and advisor to Virginia’s commission on the response to the <em>Brown v. Board of Education</em> decision, it advocated nationally for states’ rights and conservatism, and eventually distributed over 2 million published pamphlets, brochures and speeches. This booklet argues against the Voting Rights Act and describes demonstrations as looting and mobbery. </span><br /><br />Excerpts:<br /><br />EVERY MAN HIS OWN LAW. <br />A commentary by the Virginia Commission on Constitutional Government concerning the unparalleled lawlessness in the streets of the Nation today. The Appendix contains excerpts from the Constitution of the United States; the Virginia Bill of Rights; and excerpts from the Code of Virginia. Specifically covered are several sections of the Code of Virginia dealing with suppression of and punishment for riotous acts.<br /><br /><em>In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. --JUDGES 21:25</em><br /><br />Forward: It seems necessary and appropriate, however, to devote one pamphlet to a protest against the current unparalleled lawlessness that has plagued many of our cities, and which, if continued, would destroy those very liberties which the rioters profess to cherish but seek to gain through lawless acts.<br /><br />p.6 The ballot box is secret and is made accessible to those who have no property qualifications whatsoever and pay no taxes of any kind; and to those who cannot even read the comics. The most ignorant now has the same voice as the philosopher--often much greater because of the weight of minorities in key states in presidential elections. <br /><br />p.8 The American people are long-suffering and will tolerate repeated abuses; but a time comes when they rise in wrath to stamp them out. When they do, no minority group can resiste them, no matter what means it employs. <br /><br />p.9 They are insurrections against government. And it is no longer a matter of race, because some white hoodlums join in the loot, and the property taken and destroyed belongs to Negroes as well as to whites. It is the attack of the lowest of our citizens against any who may have achieved some measure of economic success.... <br /><br />It is to our shame that police officers have been ordered to shoot only in self-defense while mobs run wild, committing every excess. <br /><br />p.10 If they [police] are inadequate to quell insurrection, and if National Guard units may be too thin to put down several mobs at the same time, then we must organize, arm, and train home guard units in all our cities, composed of law-abiding citizens of both races. <br /><br />Mobbery has no place in free America. It must be destroyed.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://images.socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/items/browse?tags=Virginia+Commission+on+Constitutional+Government" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="Other VCCG publications">Other VCCG publications</a> in the Image Portal
<a href="http://librarycatalog.virginiahistory.org/final/Portal/Default.aspx?component=AAAAIY&amp;record=76257a97-9be4-4971-b1b5-351eec5dcce9" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="Search VMHC for this item">General collection. Call number K 49 V75 E8</a>. Library of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Virginia Historical Society
1967 October
Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Virginia Historical Society
NO COPYRIGHT – UNITED STATES <br />The organization that has made the Item available believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Item may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. <br /><a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/</a><br /><br />Acknowledgement of the Virginia Historical Society as a source is requested.
Learn more: <br /><br /><a href="https://images.socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/exhibits/show/controlling-the-vote/gallery" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="Discovery Set: Controlling the Vote">Controlling the Vote -- Rights. Registration. Representation.</a> Social Welfare History Image Portal<br /><br /><a href="https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/uncategorized/voting-rights-act-of-1965/" target="_blank" title="Introduction to the Voting Rights Act" rel="noreferrer noopener">Voting Rights Act of 1965. An Introduction</a>. <em>Social Welfare History Project </em> <br /><br />Hershman, J. H. Jr. <a href="https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Massive_Resistance" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="Massive Resistance">Massive Resistance</a>. (2011, June 29). <em>Encyclopedia Virginia <br /><br /><br /></em>
Voting Rights Act...the first months
Within the first six weeks after the Voting Rights Act was signed into law, staff attorneys from the Commission on Civil Rights visited 32 Southern counties and parishes to study the implementation of the legislation. This document is their report, transmitted to the President, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives in November 1965. <br /><br />The Commission found widespread compliance, but also a need for further action. Their "Findings and Recommendations," along with the section titled, "Problems in Registration" are presented here. <br /><br />Read the report's <a href="https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll391:4298/p16022coll391:4185?child_index=9&query=&sidebar_page=4" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="read the report's history of the Voting Rights Act of 1965">Chapter 1: History of the Voting Rights Act of 1965</a>. <br /><br />Excerpts: <br />p.34 Problems in Registration<br /><br />Some country registrars in Mississippi and Alabama have violated the new law by refusing to register illiterates....<br /><br />Delay has created a problem in Alabama and South Carolina, principally because these States have a restricted number of registration days. <br /><br />p. 35 In some counties in North Carolina, registrars conduct all but three days of registration in their own homes or places of business. Social and psychological barriers are likely to deter Negroes from seeking out a registrar in his exclusively white neighborhood.... <br /><br />Racial violence related to civil rights activities is another factor which has limited applications in some counties with examiners. The killing of seminarian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Daniels" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="biographical information on Jonathan Daniels">Jonathan Daniels</a> in Lowndes Country, Alabama, on August 20 and the acquittal of his killer on September 30 appear to have been the single most important factor in reducing Negro applications in that county. It is symbolic of conditions there that a pick-up truck with a rifle visibly displayed has been parked daily immediately outside the examiner's office since the opening of the office. Registration workers in the country have reported increasing threats against their lives and continued efforts to intimidate resident Negro leaders.<br /><br />------<br /><br />This booklet on the Voting Rights Act was part of a resource file on civil rights and voting in the files of the National Federation of Settlements. The Federation was active in community organizing for social justice, voting, and civil rights. The <a href="https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll391:4298/p16022coll391:4176" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="complete document and transcript">entire document along with a transcript</a> is available via the University of Minnesota Libraries, Social Welfare History Archives.
United States Commission on Civil Rights
<a href="https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/11/resources/2445" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="finding aid">National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers records</a> (<a href="https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll391:4298/p16022coll391:4176" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="view this document">Box 169, Folder 3</a>), Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries
1965
Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries
NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES<br /><br />The organization that has made the Item available believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Item may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. <br /><br /><a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/</a>