Eye for an Eye: The Role of Armed Resistance ... - Freedom Archives

dominance was the white primary . Being that most Southern states were de facto
one-party monopolies, winning the Democratic primary was essential to control-
ling the political apparatus . Particularly in the Deep South, the Democratic Party
denied Black voters from participating in the primary. In 1944, the U.S . Supreme
Court outlawed the white primary in the case of Smith v A11wright. This decision
set the stage for Blacks to challenge racist voting restrictions .
In 1946, the first Mississippi statewide election since the Smith v.
A11wright Supreme Court decision led to a rash of terrorist violence. Mobilized by
white supremacist, including Mississippi U .S . Senator Theodore Bilbo, racist law
enforcement and vigilantes attacked Blacks attempting to register to vote and
those few registered Blacks who attempted to vote . For example, on primary day
in Gulfport, Mississippi, local NAACP president and army veteran Vernando R .
Collier and his wife were attacked by a group of about fifteen white men after the
Colliers approached the polls to vote . Even though a police officer was present,
according to Collier the white mob "knocked me down, dragged me to the front cat
the porch and threw me out . .. at the same time assaulted and struck my wife, who
was constantly screaming and pleading the officer to stop them from beating me
The officer ignored Mrs . Collier's requests and made no arrests .' This vivid
example is just one of the cases described by nearly 200 blacks who had the
courage to testify at a U .S . Senate Committee hearing to investigate "a reign of
terror" in Mississippi during the election campaign of 1946 . 5
Blacks not only experienced political subjugation but economic segrega-
tion in post-World War II Mississippi . Black income was less than half of white
income . In 1949, annual Black median family income was $601, compared to