The Living South, p. 13
Dublin Core
Title
The Living South, p. 13
Description
"Voting Day In Georgia
MY COUSIN Lizzie from down in Texas has sent me a letter telling me that the folks up on Bull Creek will be holding their Independence Day picnic this July 4, and why don’t I come on down to make them on a speech.
Last time, I made a Fourth of July speech on Bull Creek, there were 72 people who fought off the horseflies buzzing around and biting the babies. Forty-four out of the 72 were my kinfolks and most of the others were kind of cross kinfolks, being married to different branches of my family.
I was cutting down on Mr. Tom Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence with the big old grand-daddy of all the horseflies on Bull Creek taking a slice out of my ear. When I stopped to slap Old Gran-daddy Horsefly, Doug Martin slapped Will Bowen in an argument over who should sell sliced watermelon at that picnic on Bull Creek – up there in the Texas hills.
Everybody, kinfolks included, stopped listening to me and began taking sides with Doug or Will. I tried to keep on talking, hoping that would stop the free-for-all cuss fight drowned out of my speech so I stepped down from the platform, sat down on a stump and smoked a pipe of tobacco till Constable Shell Baker came down to stop the rumpus.
Now I’d like to see Doug and Will this Fourth of July – they made up years ago when Doug’s youngest boy married Will’s oldest girl. But if I had my choice, I wouldn’t go to Texas this Fourth of July.
Real July Fourth
I’D GO to Georgia where a whole lot of Negroes and poor whites are going to make Fourth of July a real Independence Day by making it voting day. I reckon that some of the shirt tail kluxers may try to pick some cuss fights on that day when the Georgia Democratic primary will be held.
I reckon that I wouldn’t be sitting on a slump smoking a pipe if they picked that kind of cuss fight. I reckon I would be doing something else because all those folks down there in Georgia are kind of kinfolks to me. I reckon that I would be doing something else because my kinfolks and cross kinfolks wouldn’t be fighting each other.
I was up in New York, two weeks ago, attending the National Negro Publishers Association convention. I talked to a Georgian who thinks that the best way to honor Mr. Tom Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence into voting.
That Georgian is one of the South’s bravest young leaders. He’s C.A. Scott, president of the Citizens Democratic club of Fulton County, and publisher of the nation’s only daily Negro newspaper, the Atlanta World.
I asked Brother Scott if Negroes would be kept away from the ballot boxes on July 4 simply because the Democratic State committee had tried to cross up Mr. Tom Jefferson and the U.S. Supreme Court by saying that the court’s decision in the Texas primary case meant nothing in Georgia.
“That decision means everything in Georgia.” Brother Scott answered me. “Six thousand Negroes are registered to vote, 3,000 of them right in Fulton County. That may seem like a small number, but it’s a good start. And if only a few thousand Negroes get into the polls on July 4, it will start the ball rolling for many thousands more to vote two years from now.”
How They Did It
MY SOUL felt warm and good, as it did that day on Bull Creek before the cuss fight, when Mr. Scott told me of the intelligent, far-reaching steps that are being taken in Georgia to assure the ballot to every American living in Georgia. Here are the steps, and I’m passing them on to other Southerners as the basis of a program that they might introduce in their states:
For days, the Atlanta World ran a notice on its first page, urging Negroes to register for the vote and tying in registration with the Texas primary decision.
The Georgia League of Women Voters has also been conducting an all-out campaign for registration. It’s true that this organization made no direct appeal to Negroes as such, “But,” said Brother Scott, “In this stage of the South’s history, any such appeal, stimulates citizens of all races and colors to exercise their democratic privilege of voting.
The Southern Regional Council, an inter-racial organization with headquarters in Atlanta, has been giving full support to the campaign for the right of Negroes to vote. According to various Negro newspapers which I have seen, the council has been instructing prospective voters how to register.
Finally, Brother Scott told me, all-out legal action will be undertaken in the state courts to see just how that ruling of the state Democratic committee squares up with the Declaration of Independence, written by the Founding Fathers of our republic.
Now, this last one doesn’t come from Brother Scott but from another civic leader who is a lady. That lady is Mrs. Willie Lewis, prominent churchwoman, who told me how the women-folks in Atlanta are backing up their menfolks over in France and the South Pacific.
The womenfolks have organized a club for the wives and sweethearts of Negro servicewomen. You can’t join that club just by planking down a dollar. You’ve got to do something to earn your membership.
You’ve got to register to vote. When you come back with your registration slip, you get your name put on the club rolls.
I think that’s a good idea for women in the other 10 Southern states to work on this Fourth of July when the soul of Mr. Tom Jefferson is listening to these new Declarations of Independence coming from his native soil of Dixie."
MY COUSIN Lizzie from down in Texas has sent me a letter telling me that the folks up on Bull Creek will be holding their Independence Day picnic this July 4, and why don’t I come on down to make them on a speech.
Last time, I made a Fourth of July speech on Bull Creek, there were 72 people who fought off the horseflies buzzing around and biting the babies. Forty-four out of the 72 were my kinfolks and most of the others were kind of cross kinfolks, being married to different branches of my family.
I was cutting down on Mr. Tom Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence with the big old grand-daddy of all the horseflies on Bull Creek taking a slice out of my ear. When I stopped to slap Old Gran-daddy Horsefly, Doug Martin slapped Will Bowen in an argument over who should sell sliced watermelon at that picnic on Bull Creek – up there in the Texas hills.
Everybody, kinfolks included, stopped listening to me and began taking sides with Doug or Will. I tried to keep on talking, hoping that would stop the free-for-all cuss fight drowned out of my speech so I stepped down from the platform, sat down on a stump and smoked a pipe of tobacco till Constable Shell Baker came down to stop the rumpus.
Now I’d like to see Doug and Will this Fourth of July – they made up years ago when Doug’s youngest boy married Will’s oldest girl. But if I had my choice, I wouldn’t go to Texas this Fourth of July.
Real July Fourth
I’D GO to Georgia where a whole lot of Negroes and poor whites are going to make Fourth of July a real Independence Day by making it voting day. I reckon that some of the shirt tail kluxers may try to pick some cuss fights on that day when the Georgia Democratic primary will be held.
I reckon that I wouldn’t be sitting on a slump smoking a pipe if they picked that kind of cuss fight. I reckon I would be doing something else because all those folks down there in Georgia are kind of kinfolks to me. I reckon that I would be doing something else because my kinfolks and cross kinfolks wouldn’t be fighting each other.
I was up in New York, two weeks ago, attending the National Negro Publishers Association convention. I talked to a Georgian who thinks that the best way to honor Mr. Tom Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence into voting.
That Georgian is one of the South’s bravest young leaders. He’s C.A. Scott, president of the Citizens Democratic club of Fulton County, and publisher of the nation’s only daily Negro newspaper, the Atlanta World.
I asked Brother Scott if Negroes would be kept away from the ballot boxes on July 4 simply because the Democratic State committee had tried to cross up Mr. Tom Jefferson and the U.S. Supreme Court by saying that the court’s decision in the Texas primary case meant nothing in Georgia.
“That decision means everything in Georgia.” Brother Scott answered me. “Six thousand Negroes are registered to vote, 3,000 of them right in Fulton County. That may seem like a small number, but it’s a good start. And if only a few thousand Negroes get into the polls on July 4, it will start the ball rolling for many thousands more to vote two years from now.”
How They Did It
MY SOUL felt warm and good, as it did that day on Bull Creek before the cuss fight, when Mr. Scott told me of the intelligent, far-reaching steps that are being taken in Georgia to assure the ballot to every American living in Georgia. Here are the steps, and I’m passing them on to other Southerners as the basis of a program that they might introduce in their states:
For days, the Atlanta World ran a notice on its first page, urging Negroes to register for the vote and tying in registration with the Texas primary decision.
The Georgia League of Women Voters has also been conducting an all-out campaign for registration. It’s true that this organization made no direct appeal to Negroes as such, “But,” said Brother Scott, “In this stage of the South’s history, any such appeal, stimulates citizens of all races and colors to exercise their democratic privilege of voting.
The Southern Regional Council, an inter-racial organization with headquarters in Atlanta, has been giving full support to the campaign for the right of Negroes to vote. According to various Negro newspapers which I have seen, the council has been instructing prospective voters how to register.
Finally, Brother Scott told me, all-out legal action will be undertaken in the state courts to see just how that ruling of the state Democratic committee squares up with the Declaration of Independence, written by the Founding Fathers of our republic.
Now, this last one doesn’t come from Brother Scott but from another civic leader who is a lady. That lady is Mrs. Willie Lewis, prominent churchwoman, who told me how the women-folks in Atlanta are backing up their menfolks over in France and the South Pacific.
The womenfolks have organized a club for the wives and sweethearts of Negro servicewomen. You can’t join that club just by planking down a dollar. You’ve got to do something to earn your membership.
You’ve got to register to vote. When you come back with your registration slip, you get your name put on the club rolls.
I think that’s a good idea for women in the other 10 Southern states to work on this Fourth of July when the soul of Mr. Tom Jefferson is listening to these new Declarations of Independence coming from his native soil of Dixie."
Creator
Harold Preece
Publisher
The Chicago Defender
Date
1944-7-1
Collection
Citation
Harold Preece, “The Living South, p. 13,” African American Fourth of July, accessed May 3, 2024, https://africanamerican4th.omeka.net/items/show/82.