negro voting in atlanta: 1953-1961

Clark Atlanta University

Negro Voting in Atlanta: 1953-1961Author(s): Jack WalkerSource: Phylon (1960-), Vol. 24, No. 4 (4th Qtr., 1963), pp. 379-387Published by: Clark Atlanta UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/273379 .

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By JACK WALKER

Negro Voting in Atlanta: 1953-1961*

ONE OF THE MOST striking developments in Southern politics since World War II has been the steady increase in the number of Negro

voters. The increase has been uneven, and in large areas of the South today Negroes are still denied the right to vote by both legal and ex- tra-legal means. But in some areas, notably in the larger cities of the South, all restrictions have been lifted and the only barriers to increased voting among Negroes are apathy and a lack of leadership, the same barriers which exist for any group having low incomes and little ex-

perience with political organization. Increased voting among Negroes will undoubtedly have a signifi-

cant impact on the development of Southern politics. But what kind of

impact? What kind of voting behavior can be expected from the Negro voters who are entering the political arena all over the South?

Most studies of Negro voting have concluded that non-whites are less

likely to vote than whites. Connelly and Field, in a study of non-vot-

ing, reported that only 34 percent of the non-whites in their samples had voted in 1940, in contrast to 71 percent of the Caucasians.' Robert Lane found an even larger spread in 1952 when only 33 percent of the

Negroes voted, compared with 79 percent of the whites.2 These are national samples, however, which include large numbers of Negroes in the South who were arbitrarily denied the right to vote. But studies of

Negro voting in Northern cities have also shown that Negroes are less

likely to vote than whites. One study states categorically: "Whatever the ultimate cause, the fact remains that the American Negro is less politically active, at least with respect to voting, than is the white ma-

jority." 3 Another study suggests that: The low turnout of Negroes even in the North is partly attributa-

ble to their concentration in the low income group, but it may also reflect the weakness of social-conformity norms for a group which is denied the normal rewards of conformity because of race discrimination. ... In parts of the South the norms laid down by the

*The research on which this essay is based was financed by a grant from the Iowa Citizenship Clearing House and the National Center for Education in Politics. Neither of them, of course, is responsible for any errors of fact or interpretation in this study. Gordon M. Connelly and Harry H. Field, "The Non-Voter -Who He Is, What He Thinks," Public Opinion Quarterly, VIII (Summer, 1944), 178. Robert E. Lane, Political Life (Glencoe, Illinois, 1959), pp. 235, 244.

a Wendell Bell, Richard J. Hill and Charles R. Wright, Public Leadership (San Francisco, 1961), p. 86.

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PHYLON

dominant white group for the behavior of Negroes include a prohi- bition on voting.4

In this essay, registration and voting by Negroes in the city elections of Atlanta, Georgia, from 1953 to 1961 will be examined. Evidence will be presented here that contradicts the main conclusions of earlier studies. In Atlanta, at least in elections for mayor during the period examined, Negroes seem to have voted in much larger percentages than whites.

Negroes have participated freely in city elections in Atlanta since 1946 when the federal courts, in the case of Chapman v. King,5 ruled that the white primary was unconstitutional. Since 1946, the number of Negro voters in Atlanta has been increasing steadily, as the following table illustrates:6

TABLE 1 INCREASE IN THE PERCENTAGE OF NEGRO VOTERS IN ATLANTA

Percentage Date Total Registered of Total Electorate

1945 3,000 (approx.) 4.0 (approx.) 1946 (Feb.) 6,876 8.3 1946 (June) 21,244 27.2 1952 22,300 25.8 1956 23,440 27.0 1958 27,432 25.3 1960 34,393 29.5 1961 41,469 28.6 1962 52,000 (approx.) 34.0 (approx.)

The increase from 1946 to 1958, however, was rather slow; and in 1952, when Atlanta's city limits were expanded, the percentage of Negro voters in the total electorate declined, even though the total number registered had increased by over 6,000. Beginning early in 1960, the combination of the dramatic campaigns being waged in the presidential election and the excitement caused by the student sit-in demonstrations motivated more Negro citizens to register, and the percentage of Negro voters in the total electorate increased to 29.5. But these same influ- ences were at work on the white community, and as the bitterly contested city election of 1961 drew close, white voters registered in even greater numbers than Negroes and the percentage of Negro voters in the total electorate dropped once again to 28.6. It is also true that while the number of Negro registrants has been increasing, the percentage of Negro registrants in the total electorate is smaller than the percentage

4 Seymour M. Lipset, Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Allen H. Barton and Juan Linz, "The Psychology of Voting: An Analysis of Political Behavior," in Gardner Lindzey (ed.), Handbook of Social Psychology,, II (Reading, Pennsylvania, 1954), pp. 1132-33.

6154 F. (2d) 460 (1946). 6 The data for this table and those that follow was obtained from several sources. Registration figures came from the personal records of Professor C. A. Bacote and from his article: "The Negro in Atlanta Politics," Phylon, XX (Winter, 1955), 333-50; the records of the Office of the County Clerk of Fulton County; and from an article in The Atlanta Constitution, May 4,1962, p. 1. Voting returns came from official tally sheets and from The Atlanta Constitution, May 21, 1953, p. 2; May 23, 1957, p. 6; and September 24, 1961, p. 5.

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NEGRO VOTING IN ATLANTA

of Negroes in the total city population. In 1960, 38.8 percent of Atlanta's population was Negro,7 while only 29.5 percent of the registered voters was Negro. In 1962, with strenuous efforts being made to defeat two ex- treme segregationists (incumbent Congressman James C. Davis and Marvin Griffin, candidate for governor) and because of the grant to the All Citizens' Registration Committee from the Voter Education Project of the Southern Regional Council,8 those working to increase Negro registration in Atlanta began making impressive new gains.

Even though the number of Negro voters in the city has been increasing, the whites still hold a commanding majority, and if all elections were decided strictly on racial grounds the Negro community would be powerless. But the white community is not united. Instead, an analysis of the city elections of 1953, 1957 and 1961 shows that the white community is almost evenly divided. In 1961 for example, Ivan Allen, a moderate on the race issue who made an open bid for Negro support, was elected mayor with approximately 33,080 white votes and 31,250 Negro votes. His opponent, Lester Maddox, a strong segregationist, received almost no Negro votes and approximately 36,091 white votes. In the elections of 1953 and 1957, this same coalition of Negro voters and liberal elements in the white community joined to elect William B. Hartsfield as mayor. Both Allen and Hartsfield hold moderate views on the issue of racial discrimination, and although the record of the Allen administration has been marred by a recent dispute over housing segregation, the city still maintains a nation-wide reputation for its peaceful and farsighted race relations policy.9

Since Negroes participate actively in Atlanta's political life, the city provides a good opportunity for the study of the political behavior of Southern Negroes. It is not claimed that Atlanta is a typical Southern city or that behavior in Atlanta will be duplicated exactly all over the South. Peculiar local circumstances will cause some variations, but the behavior of Negro voters should be generally the same in all Southern cities.

The white community was not intensely investigated as part of this study, but the two groups within it seem to be divided along the lines of social and economic class and background. An examination of election results shows that the majorities for Hartsfield in 1953 and 1957 and the majority for Allen in 1961 all came from the same parts of the city. These two men gained their strength from the predominantly Ne-

7Atlanta Region Metropolitan Planning Commission, Population and Housing (Atlanta, 1961), p. 2.

8 Personal interviews with Leslie Dunbar, Executive Secretary, Southern Regional Council, and Wiley Branton, Director, Voter Education Project, on February 27, 1962.

9 There have been numerous articles published recently praising race relations in Atlanta. Examples are: Douglas Cater, "Atlanta: Smart Politics and Good Race Relations," Reporter, XVII (July 11, 1957), 18-2; Seymour Freedgood, "Life in Buckhead," Fortune LXIV (September, 1961), 108-09; Claude Sitton, "Atlanta's Example: Good Sense and Dignity," New York Times Magazine, May 6, 1962, pp. 22, 123-28.

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PHYLON

gro precincts which are clustered around the center and the west side of the city, and from the predominantly white precincts on the north side. The strength of their opponents came from the predominantly white precincts in the city center, and on the south side. This line of political division within the white community follows in general a line of economic and social differences. To the north of the line are the upper- and upper-middle-class white neighborhoods, and to the south of the line are the middle- and working-class white neighborhoods. Careful ob- servers of the city's political life believe that the background of the white voters as well as their economic class are very important factors in determining how they will cast their ballots. One man who had been active in electing both Hartsfield and Allen asserted:

I've found one of the best ways to anticipate how a man will vote is to ask him where he was born and grew up. If he comes from South Georgia or somewhere else in the Black Belt you can bet he will be against us, but if he's from the Piedmont area or grew up in Atlanta or outside the South, the chances are he's with us.10

Whatever the reasons for the division in the white community, the results of these three elections reveal that the coalition of Negroes and upper-income whites, an alliance which was developing during the period from 1870 to 1908, prior to the beginning of the white primary,1l became a well established fact of Atlanta's political life during the 1950's. Moreover, a closer examination of the results of these elections suggests that the Negro community has more strength at the polls than the registration figures alone suggest. To illustrate this fact, the behavior of voters from typical precincts in each of the city's three voting blocs is compared in Table 2. The three precincts compared are number 7-D, a predominantly Negro residential area containing both working- class and middle-income neighborhoods not far from the campus of the Atlanta University Center; number 8-B, a predominantly white residential area containing middle- and upper-income neighborhoods, situated near the large Lenox Square shopping center on the city's north side; and number 5-B, a predominantly white working-class district near the campus of Georgia Institute of Technology.

These figures indicate that Negro voters act with greater unity and vote in larger percentages than registrants in either of the blocs within the white community. In all three precincts, increasing numbers of voters went to the polls in each election, but the Negro voters, under the promptings of the well organized Atlanta Negro Voters League, voted in each election in much higher percentages than white voters in either of the other precincts. There was also considerably more unity of choice among Negro voters. Although elections occurred during this

1o From a personal interview, March 15, 1962. 1 Bacote, op. cit., pp. 333-41.

382




TABLE 2 COMPARISON OF BEHAVIOR OF VOTERS IN THREE TYPICAL

ATLANTA PRECINCTS

Precinct: 7-D (Negro) 1953 1957 1961

Registration: White Negro White Negro White Negro 1 1344 1 2113 5 2482

Percent Voting: 72.8% 76% 81% Results: Hartsfield Brown Hartsfield Lindsey Allen Maddox

904 71 1521 85 2003 4 90.7% 9.3% 95% 5% 99.9% .1%

Precinct: 8-B (Upper-Income White) 1953 1957 1961


Percent Voting: 44% 58% 67% Results: Hartsfield Brown Hartsfield Lindsey Allen Maddox

1779 943 1107 829 2176 640 60% 40% 57% 43% 77% 23%

Precinct: 5-B (Lower-Income White) 1953 1957 1961


Percent Voting: 55% 60% 66% Results: Hartsfield Brown Hartsfield Lindsey Allen Maddox

283 431 145 694 256 677 29% 61% 17% 83% 27% 73%

period in which the Negro vote was sharply divided, ternatives before them were between a sympathetic

and when the al- and an unsympa-

thetic candidate, as in these three elections, Negroes returned heavy majorities for their choice, thus amplifying their impact at the polls.

The registration figures for the three precincts in Table 2 indicate another trend which seems to be developing in the city. During the

period from 1953 to 1961 registration rose steadily in the Negro precinct and in the upper-income white precinct, but in the lower-income white precinct the number of registered voters began to decrease, an indication that the neighborhood was declining and that families were

beginning to move to the suburbs as soon as they could afford it. Some of the families have been moving to other portions of the city, of course, but many have moved into subdivisions outside the city limits.

These same characteristics appear when the ten predominantly Ne-

gro precincts voting most heavily for Ivan Allen in 1961 are compared with the ten predominantly white precincts voting most heavily for Allen and the ten predominantly white precincts voting most heavily against Allen and in favor of his opponent, Lester Maddox.

These figures illustrate once again that the Negroes are able to get a

larger percentage of their registered voters to the polls than either the

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PHYLON

TABLE 3 PERCENTAGE OF VOTE FOR OR AGAINST ALLEN

IN NEGRO AND WHITE PRECINCTS

Precinct Registration White Negro Total Trend

Predominantly Negro Precincts for Allen: 3-B 7 2789 2796 (Increasing) 3-E 45 3464 3509 (Increasing) 3-H 26 2545 2597 (Increasing) 3-N 3 1483 1486 (Increasing) 4-I 10 2481 2491 (Increasing) 6-H 31 2330 2361 (Increasing) 6-I 99 2286 2385 (Increasing) 7-A 16 3108 3124 (Increasing) 7-D 5 2482 2487 (Increasing)

TOTAL: 233 24085 24318 AVERAGE:

Percent Percent For Allen Voting

99 99 99.5 99.6 99 99 99 99.4 99.6

99.1

82 82 80 80 77 80 80 82 80

80

Predominantly White 5-C 2341 5-D 3953 5-I 967 6-C 825 6-F 2644 6-G 866 8-A 2979 8-B 4067 8-C 3080 8-D 3980

TOTAL: 25702

Precincts for Allen: 9

12 0 0

13 0

28 27

114 6

209

2350 3965

967 825

2557 866

3007 4104 3194 3986

25911

(Declining) (Increasing) (Increasing) (Increasing) (Increasing) (Increasing) (Increasing) (Increasing) (Increasing) (Increasing)

AVERAGE:

Predominantly White Precincts Against Allen: 1-D 1643 6 1649 (Declining) 1-G 1476 0 1476 (Increasing) 2-B 2912 79 2991 (Declining) 3-D 678 3 681 (Declining) 3-F 776 136 912 (Increasing) 3-G 404 60 464 (Increasing) 4-C 3241 324 2565 (Increasing) 4-D 1844 0 1844 (Declining) 4-F 744 81 825 (Declining) 5-B 1368 4 1372 (Declining)

TOTAL: 15096 693 15789 AVERAGE:

78 84 81 71 76 89 86 77 84 82

81

16 23 24 26 25 22 26 26 26 27

24

69 70 60 70 73 71 71 55 76 70

69

66 68 66 63 68 65 72 74 64 66

67

upper- or lower-income whites and that they also are able to achieve almost complete unity in their choices. An average of 80 percent of the registrants in the Negro precincts voted, compared to 69 percent for the

upper-income whites and 67 percent for the lower-income whites. Allen received an astounding 99 percent of the vote in the Negro precincts, 81

percent in the upper-income white precincts, and he also picked up 24

percent in the lower-income white precincts. Commenting on this bitter-

ly contested election, one Negro leader said: "In 1961 the only people in

my precinct who didn't vote for Allen were the ones who pulled the

wrong lever on the machine by mistake." 12

12 From a personal interview, March 7, 1962.

384




An investigation of the history of voter registration in each of the thirty precincts listed in Table 3 shows that registration is increasing in all the Negro precincts, and in all except one of the upper-income white precincts. But it is declining in six of the ten lower-income white precincts as these neighborhoods deteriorate and change their char- acter from residential to commercial or industrial. This trend would seem to indicate that the coalition between Negro and upper-income white voters, if it can be held together, will gain strength in the future.

Although the strength of the Negro community in Atlanta's politics has been increasing, it is still very difficult for Negroes to win election to offices in city government. All the elective positions in Atlanta's city government are filled on a city-wide basis. An individual must live in the ward he represents on the aldermanic board, but he must be elected from the city at large. This has proved to be a barrier to Negro candidates for offices in city government. The coalition of Negro and upper- income white voters, which has been successful in all the mayoralty contests since World War II, also placed a Negro, the president of At- lanta University, Dr. Rufus E. Clement, on the board of education in 1953.13 Dr. Clement has been reelected twice since that time but Ne- groes were defeated in their efforts to win seats on the aldermanic board in 1957 and 1961.

Three Negroes ran for alderman in the 1961 election and all of them were defeated. Q. V. Williamson, who was the only one of the three to have the endorsement of The Atlanta Constitution, The Atlanta Journal, and the Atlanta Negro Voters League, ran the best race. In the following table the thirty precincts analyzed in the 1961 mayoralty election are surveyed again. It is clear from this analysis that the coalition of

upper-income whites and Negroes which elected Ivan Allen did not ma- terialize for Williamson.

Williamson received an average of 94 percent of the vote in the predominantly Negro precincts, compared to 99.1 percent for Allen; he received only 47 percent of the vote in the upper-income white precincts, compared with 81 percent for Allen; and he received 17 percent of the vote in the lower-income white precincts, compared with 24 percent for Allen. Furthermore, a comparison of their contests shows that a large number of Negroes who voted for Allen failed to mark their ballots for Williamson. The total vote in the aldermanic contest is smaller in all the precincts studied than it was for the mayoralty contest, but in the upper-income white precincts the vote is only four percentage points lower on the average, and in the lower-income white precincts the total drops an average of 9 percent. But in the Negro precincts the aver-

age drop is a striking 23 percent.

13 The Atlanta Journal, May 2, 1953, p. 1; Christian Century LXX (June 3, 1953), 653.

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PHYLON

TABLE 4 PERCENTAGE OF VOTE FOR WILLIAMSON

IN NEGRO AND WHITE PRECINCTS

Negro Precincts: Precinct: 3-B 3-E 3-H 3-K 3-N 4-I 6-H 6-I 7-A 7-D Average Percent for

Williamson: 93 93 96 93 98 91 92 93 98 96 94 Percent Voting: 66 59 62 59 49 59 57 55 47 67 57

Upper-Income White Precincts: Precinct: 5-C 5-D 5-I 6-C 6-F 6-G 8-A 8-B 8-C 8-D Average Percent for


Lower-Income White Precincts: Precinct: 1-D 1-G 2-B 3-D 3-F 3-G 4-C 4-D 4-F 5-B Average Percent for


This tendency of many Negro registrants to vote in only the most important or controversial contest on the ballot, sometimes called "single- shot" voting, seems to be characteristic of all voting groups with low income, prestige, and education. But H. D. Price, in his study of Negro voting in Florida, argues that Negroes are even more prone than other low-status groups to omit all but the most dramatic races on the ballot:

Many whites vote at least partly because they regard it as a duty and as part of being a good citizen. Once at the polls, they usually take the trouble to indicate a choice in most of the contests on the ballot. Negroes, however, have not been subjected to decades of civil exhortations on the virtues of voting per se. In fact, their very right of participating in elections at all is still politically controversial, even though legally settled. As a result, most Negro voters go to the polls only when there is a contest that presents a choice of direct meaning to them. And once in the voting booth, Negro registrants are still quite likely to indicate a choice only in the contest or contests that have particularly attracted their interest.14

Williamson's loss of support in the city's Negro precincts may also have been the result of the nature of his campaign. In an effort to at- tract the white voters he needed to build a majority, Williamson re- frained from sharp attacks on his white opponent or impassioned ap- peals for an end to segregation.15 Instead, he merely listed his own

qualifications for office, and repeatedly called attention to the many endorsements he had received from the city's leading newspapers and white civic organizations. The results of the election indicate, however, that Williamson failed both to lure the necessary white voters by his tactics and to instill the Negro registrants with the enthusiasm neces-

14 H. D. Price, The Negro in Southern Politics (New York, 1957), p. 77. 16 From personal observations of the campaign, and from personal interviews, April 6, 27, 28, and

May 15, 1962.

386




sary to motivate them to vote for him, even after they had taken the trouble to go to the polls.

The behavior of Negro voters places Negro candidates in Atlanta in a dilemma which makes campaigning extremely difficult. In order to build a majority, a Negro politician in Atlanta must develop a political style which combines enough of the themes of protest to capture the loyalty of the Negro voters with enough of the themes of accommoda- tion and "responsibility" to win the confidence and acceptance of the more liberal whites.

Several conclusions can be drawn from this study of Negro voting behavior in Atlanta. The results of this investigation suggest that Negro citizens, once they have been persuaded to register, take the opportunity seriously and large numbers can be expected to go to the polls and vote. In the 1961 city election examined in this essay, a much larger percentage of Negro registrants voted than any group within the white community in the mayor's race. In the aldermanic race examined, however, Negroes voted in smaller percentages than either of the blocs within the white community, even though a Negro was on the ticket. The evidence suggests that Negroes will vote in large percentages only if they are made aware of the importance of the election and the issues at stake.

The main task of Negro leaders, therefore, is to increase the political understanding and awareness of the Negro community. The steady increase in the numbers of Negro registrants is an indication that gains are taking place in this area, but much more needs to be done. Southern Negroes are beginning to shake off the mood of cynical resignation that has paralyzed them in the past. Their expectations are rising and there is a great need for effective political leadership. Above all, the new voters must be educated; apathy and single-shot voting must be elimi- nated. Negro leaders must become adept at political education as well as campaigning and bargaining before they can fully exploit the political power of the Negro community and win significant victories in the struggle for equality.

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negro voting in atlanta: 1953-1961

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