The Booker T. Washington Papers, Vol.5, page 257, Nov. 1899, U. of Illinois Press

The page presentation framework of the Booker T. Washington papers is designed to provide researchers worldwide with searchable access to the thousands of pages comprising the fourteen volumes, most of which are out of print. Adapted from the National Academy Press's Open Book framework, this framework allows searching down to the page level, provides sorting of search results chronologically, enables easy navigation across multiple volumes, and allows page-by-page local printing (via PDF) of every page.

[ Top of Page ]

[ Home ]

[ Contact Us ]

[ Help ]

OCRed data provided for searching only.
NOVEMBER 1 8 9 9 through the state legislature to pass a disfranchising bill.t I am almost disgusted with the colored people in Georgia. I have been corresponding with leading people in the state but cannot stir up a single colored man to take the lead in trying to head oR this movement. I cannot see that they are doing a thing through the press.2 I am tempted to put a strong article in the Atlanta Constitution. I am writing it now but do not know whether I will publish it.3 It is a question how far I can go and how far I ought to go in fighting these measures in other states when the colorer! people themselves sit down and will do nothing to help themselves.4 They will not even answer my letters. Yours truly, Booker T. Washington TLS Con. ~ BTW Papers DLC. ~ A bill introduced in the Georgia legislature by Thomas William Hardwiek provided that no person be allowed to vote unless he could read, write, and interpret any paragraph of the state constitution. The bill contained a grandfather clause that exempted from the educational qualification all persons who could vote as of Jan. I, 1867, and all of their descendants. The bill failed to pass by a wide margin. Most of the white newspapers were opposed to it, and white Democratic representatives from predominantly black counties feared they would lose to the Populists if blacks were disfranchised. Disfranchisement did occur in Georgia in 1908, when it was accomplished through a constitutional amendment. Tat the same time that BTW was complaining about the inactivity of Georgia blacks, a number of leading black citizens were preparing a petition to the legislature. Dated Nov. 8, 1899, the petition stated that blacks were in general agreement with the need for election reform in Georgia but that they were opposed to the understanding clause and the grandfather clause. The petition stated that ''any law which proposes discrimination against 8so,ooo souls, and which openly clears the way for dishonesty in popular elections, is contrary to the genius of our Christian civilization and a menace to free democratic institutions.'' The petition was signed by twenty-four men, including Henry Hugh Proctor, William A. Pledger, William H. Crogman, W. E. B. Du Bois, C. C. Wimbish, Henry A. Rucker, and John Hope. (Atlanta Constitution, Nov. lo, ~ 899, 7.) See An Interview in the Atlanta Constitution, Nov. lo, 1899, below. ~ Fortune advised BTW that his protest against disfranchisement should be general rather than specific, so that he would not be open to the charge of meddling in the affairs of others. Fortune hoped that blacks in Georgia would lead in the battle against disfranchisement in that state. (Fortune to BTW, Nov. lo, 1899, Con. ~53, BTW Papers, DLC.) 257