Negro Disfranchisement in Georgia, 1898-1908

Abstract

Any scholarly analysis of race relations inevitably becomes intertwined with subjective evaluations. Personal experience and considerable reading have taught me that the Negro, given equal opportunities, is fully the equal of his white counterpart in every respect. Hence, it is my opinion that the racial animosity that did exist and that unfortunately still does exist is nothing short of tragic. In trying to question how and why this all came about, I became interested in the topic of Georgia disfranchisement. Specifically, my paper reviews the subject from 1898, when Allen Candler was first elected governor, through 1908, at which time the voters of the state officially ratified Hoke Smith's restrictive amendment. But as I quickly discovered while researching the topic, extralegal disfranchisement and other forms of race proscription anteceded 1898. Therefore, I have fairly extensively covered the discriminatory aspects of the preceding quarter of a century in the first two background chapters. [From Preface]