Alfred H. Stone Collection
Volume: 4B

39. Jno. C. Wickliffe, “Negro Suffrage a Failure: Shall We Abolish It?” Forum (February 1893): 797-804.

Call for the repeal of the Fifteenth Amendment based on the assertion that the participation of African Americans in the electoral process has been a complete failure. “The political result of the Negro may be disposed of in a word—Nothing. He stands just where he did twenty-five years ago—a cipher on the political blackboard, valuable only when controlled by other figures, and in nowise affecting the result by reason of his own worth.” The author notes that Southern opposition to Federal interference has taken two forms, both of which are based on the assumption of white supremacy: legal (e.g., “the educational qualification for voting” clause in the Mississippi constitution), and illegal (e.g., fraud, force, and bribery).