Dr. W.E. Burghardt DuBois of New York, editor of The Crisis, and the political leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was in Washington recently making a report to the members of his race on his visit to Africa. President Coolidge appointed DuBois America’s special envoy to the inauguration of President King of Liberia on January 1, 1924.
DuBois is a graduate of Fisk University, Harvard University, and the University of Berlin; and is the spokesman of America’s 12 million negroes, who represent a voting population of 4 million. They are no longer overwhelmingly southern by domicile, but, owing to the extensive movement northward in recent years, believe now they will wield a balance of power in various northern states. In Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio the negro vote is a serious factor. In Pennsylvania, New York, and some quarters of New England they are steadily increasing. Negro politicians now claim that they will shortly be able to elect a negro representative to Congress.
When asked about the negro voters’ intention this year, DuBois bluntly replied, “We have decided to raise our price.” This was his summary of the program. He says they are no longer going to be satisfied with a few political jobs as a reward for their support on election day. It is their purpose to commit every candidate for high office, from the Presidency down to the humblest member of Congress on four basic planks in the negro platform:
1. Suppression of “mob law” (lynching) and Jim Crow laws.
2. Less rigid residential restrictions.
3. Better educational opportunities.
4. More respect for the suffrage rights of negro voters.
According to Dr. DuBois, this is the negro’s irreducible minimum. They seem to plan to follow the motto of “rewarding friends” and “punishing enemies.” A short time ago they exercised their forces against Medill McCormick of Illinois. They have never forgotten his activities in the race riot in Chicago several years ago, Dr. DuBois says. He predicts, however, that the negro vote in 1924 will pretty generally go to Calvin Coolidge.
Republican leaders seem to realize that the negro community is adopting a firmer tone than has been noticeable for many years, and seem to be acting accordingly. The Republican National Committee’s action in increasing the size of national convention delegations from southern states was evidently a move in that direction.
Dr. DuBois declares that if the South continues to disfranchise the negro voters, the northerly migration will go on in ever-growing proportions. It is said already to be the ambition of the average southern negro to “get north” as soon as possible. Dr. DuBois hopes that when the industrial South has realized the “menace” to its prosperity, which the loss of low-priced black labor would constitute, there may be an inclination to let more negroes cast their votes on election day.
From page 2 of the Carolina Jeffersonian, Raleigh, N.C., July 16, 1924
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