File #2622: "EN3414_Spring2024__TheNegroVoterInTheSouth_027.pdf"
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In Arkansas, the registration record of Negroes in the state as a
whole is decidedly less impressive than that of white citizens. Economic
dependency and the lower income and educational status of Negroes are
contributing factors. But the Arkansas consultant for this survey feels that
an even greater cause of non-voting by Negroes is their exclusion from the
entire business of politics, patronage, office holding, and policy making.
Arkansas provides an interesting variation from the usual voting
pattern of counties in the South with a high percentage of Negroes.
Surprisingly, in this state there is a tendency in such counties for the
level of white registration to be lower and that of Negro registration to be
higher than in the counties with few or no Negroes.
The egro population in Arkansas is concentrated in non-metropolitan
areas, mostly in the eastern and southern counties bordering the states of
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Traditionally, these are the areas of
the plantation system, tenancy, one-crop agriculture (cotton), and restrictive race relations. In the past 20 years there have been marked changes,
with many Negroes moving to cities for a number of reasons, including
the mechanization of farms and the promise of better jobs elsewhere. With
the exception of the larger urban areas, Negro population dropped strikingly in most Arkansas counties between 1940-50, particularly in those
with a large proportion of Negroes.
Still, the old order prevails to a large extent in these plantation counties.
Negroes lag behind the white citizens in income and the number of school
years completed and both races are below state and national averages.
"Logically, any deterrence to Negro registration and voting would have
been found in those areas," the Arkansas consultant commented. He
thought the higher Negro registration may be due to "Negro political
leadership developed to counteract widespread restrictive racial practices,
which in turn tends partially to neutralize the limiting effects of low
economic status on suffrage."
In Texas, also, economic status has a definite bearing on Negro voting
and as everywhere in the South the self-employed are far more likely to be
politically active. The Negro's living still comes primarily from the land
in Texas, where there are many independent Negro farmers. They raise
cotton and timber in east Texas and rice in the south. The rice farmers
sometimes control extremely large holdings. Some of those around the
Jefferson County (Beaumont and Port Arthur) area at times gross over
$100,000 a year. Many, however, are small farmers compelled to supplemen_t their annual income by part-time employment in the small towns
and cities nearby. This in itself is an emancipating force, for it often marks
the first step toward permanent urban habitation and, in some instances,
unionization. The independent Negro farmers, with doctors, businessmen,
..1..
[ 27 ]
whole is decidedly less impressive than that of white citizens. Economic
dependency and the lower income and educational status of Negroes are
contributing factors. But the Arkansas consultant for this survey feels that
an even greater cause of non-voting by Negroes is their exclusion from the
entire business of politics, patronage, office holding, and policy making.
Arkansas provides an interesting variation from the usual voting
pattern of counties in the South with a high percentage of Negroes.
Surprisingly, in this state there is a tendency in such counties for the
level of white registration to be lower and that of Negro registration to be
higher than in the counties with few or no Negroes.
The egro population in Arkansas is concentrated in non-metropolitan
areas, mostly in the eastern and southern counties bordering the states of
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Traditionally, these are the areas of
the plantation system, tenancy, one-crop agriculture (cotton), and restrictive race relations. In the past 20 years there have been marked changes,
with many Negroes moving to cities for a number of reasons, including
the mechanization of farms and the promise of better jobs elsewhere. With
the exception of the larger urban areas, Negro population dropped strikingly in most Arkansas counties between 1940-50, particularly in those
with a large proportion of Negroes.
Still, the old order prevails to a large extent in these plantation counties.
Negroes lag behind the white citizens in income and the number of school
years completed and both races are below state and national averages.
"Logically, any deterrence to Negro registration and voting would have
been found in those areas," the Arkansas consultant commented. He
thought the higher Negro registration may be due to "Negro political
leadership developed to counteract widespread restrictive racial practices,
which in turn tends partially to neutralize the limiting effects of low
economic status on suffrage."
In Texas, also, economic status has a definite bearing on Negro voting
and as everywhere in the South the self-employed are far more likely to be
politically active. The Negro's living still comes primarily from the land
in Texas, where there are many independent Negro farmers. They raise
cotton and timber in east Texas and rice in the south. The rice farmers
sometimes control extremely large holdings. Some of those around the
Jefferson County (Beaumont and Port Arthur) area at times gross over
$100,000 a year. Many, however, are small farmers compelled to supplemen_t their annual income by part-time employment in the small towns
and cities nearby. This in itself is an emancipating force, for it often marks
the first step toward permanent urban habitation and, in some instances,
unionization. The independent Negro farmers, with doctors, businessmen,
..1..
[ 27 ]