In 1961, the Civil Rights Commission published a five-volume comprehensive report that became the basis of the Civil Rights act of 1960. In its report on the voting, they concluded that while, the "majority of Negro American citizens do not now suffer discriminatory denial of their right to vote", voter discrimination still existed in America. Where it did exist, it was coupled with high rates of poverty, low education and lack of job opportunities for African American citizens. The African American community had high expectations of the Kennedy administration, but in 1961 he made only a very brief mention of the discriminatory denial of their right to vote.
(please note this article uses the term "Negro" to reflect the writing of the 1961 report. All sections in quote come from the report)
The Civil Rights Commission was created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957 with the goal to "advise the President and Congress on conditions that deprived American Citizens of equal treatment under the law because of their color, race, religion, or national origin". In 1961, the Commission of Civil Rights submitted a five-volume comprehensive report that became the basis of the Civil Rights act of 1960, Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The Report consisted of 5 volumes or books, covering Voting, Education, Employment, Housing and Justice. According to the report on voting there were still some 100 counties in the Southern states where Negro citizens were prevented from voting by outright discrimination or by threats of either physical violence or economic reprisal. In other places, citizens could vote freely but their votes were "seriously diluted by unequal electoral redistricting". On a brighter side, the commission also reported that in 1960 "47 percent of all Negro American citizens resided in 38 states which had no recent history of discriminatory denials of the right to vote". This was actually very good news, showing that showed that voter discrimination was limited to just 12 states, and in many of these states it was limited to just a few counties. Significant progress had been made. In 1932, "Negroes were so effectively disenfranchised" in these 12 states that less than 100,000 out of 18 million African American citizens were able to vote in general elections, and virtually none could vote in primaries. After the elimination of "white primaries" in 1944 and the abolishment of the poll tax in these states during the 1950’s, this changed significantly. According to the report, by 1961 the problem of voter denials was limited to only eight Southern States including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, representing "less than 40% of the total Negro population". In three of the states (Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee) the voter denial was limited to just a few isolated counties, while in the other remaining five states it was more widespread. The report was careful not to ignore the "exclusion of Negroes from the suffrage" as a matter of national concern but felt it worthwhile to report that the "majority of Negro American citizens do not now suffer discriminatory denial of their right to vote."
The report concluded, that voter discrimination still existed in American, sometimes overt and sometimes subtle, and that economic conditions had a direct and significant bearing on civil rights and the right to vote. Where Negroes were registered and voted in high numbers, the local economy was rich and diverse, and Negroes were independent of white control. Where Negroes were found to vote in very small numbers, they were found to be subservient to "crop, land, and landlord". In areas, where Negroes were subservient, there was a real possibility of economic reprisal that kept the number of Negroes registered to vote very small. In counties where Negroes voted in large numbers, white candidates courted their votes, and Negroes participated in both partisan and non-partisan political groups, with some even running for office. In contrast, Negroes is the other counties were almost totally excluded from the political process. Furthermore in the counties where the Negroes were deprived of the vote, courtroom facilities, schools, public libraries, and transportation facilities remained consistently unequal between the races. As a result, the Negro median education level in these areas were significantly lower, as were job opportunities. The Report recommended extending the right to vote in all counties of these southern states as a "just and necessary beginning” but added simply extending the vote would not be enough. In order to bring about the equal rights of education, employment, administration of justice, in public libraries, and in other public facilities, additional direct action would be needed.
The 1961 Commission on Civil Rights Report was 250 pages long but was barely mentioned in President John F. Kennedy's 1961 State of the Union Address. In 1961, Kennedy was still reluctant to push the Civil Rights movement despite the high expectations that African Americans had for the new administration. But with a narrow victory, he was reluctant to lose his Southern support. Much would change over the next two years, but in 1961 the right to vote, received only one line buried between the cost of clean water and morality in private business.
"The denial of constitutional rights to some of our fellow Americans on account of race--at the ballot box and elsewhere--disturbs the national conscience, and subjects us to the charge of world opinion that our democracy is not equal to the high promise of our heritage."
References
Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2019). Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/annual-message-the-congress-the-state-the-union-5 [Accessed 20 Mar. 2019].
1961 US Commission on Civil Rights - Voting. [online] Available at: https://www2.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/usccr/documents/cr11961bk1.pdf [Accessed 20 Mar. 2019].
En.wikipedia.org. (2019). United States Commission on Civil Rights. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Commission_on_Civil_Rights [Accessed 20 Mar. 2019].
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