"POLL TAXES, LITERARY AND PROPERTY QUALIFICATIONS, REGISTRATION AND RESIDENT RESTRICTIONS…": FIRST EDITION OF THE ATTITUDE OF THE SOUTHERN WHITE PRESS TOWARD NEGRO SUFFRAGE 1932-1940

LOGAN, Rayford W., editor. The Attitude of the Southern White Press Toward Negro Suffrage 1932-1940. Washington: Foundation, 1940. Octavo, staple-bound as issued, original printed beige paper wrappers; pp. 115. $500.

First edition of this study of opinions toward Black suffrage in the South between 1932 and 1940, with a foreword by famed African-American historian Charles H. Wesley.

This work was edited by Dr. Rayford Logan, an accomplished scholar who focused on African American history and pan-African political activism, mainly at Howard University. "In this stimulating and important study Dr. Logan has given us a goodly cross section of white newspaper opinion below the Mason and Dixon Line concerning the Negro and the ballot. News articles, editorials, and Letters-to-the-Editor columns of leading white dailies and weeklies in 12 southern states have been read for what they have to say on the question of Negro suffrage… Dr. Logan draws two major conclusions from this material: first, there is 'a continuous intolerance in the Deep South and a growing tolerance in the Border States'; and second, 'The South as a whole is not yet ready to permit the Negro to participate fully in the Democratic Primary'… To merely say that the editor has done a good job would be a gross understatement, for this little study has a scope and value which are especially significant" (Holmes, Opportunity). The foreword was written by Charles H. Wesley, a prominent historian of African-American history who wrote more than 15 books on the subject. He was also the president of two historically black universities.

Fine condition.