The Potentiality Of The Negro Vote In Texas

Author

Pauline A. Wall, Prairie View State Normal And Industrial College

Date of Award

5-1945

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Degree Discipline

Political Science

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

There are 6,414,824 people in Texas. Of that number 5,487,545 (or 85.2$)are -whites, 2,888 (or .04$) are other races2 and 924,391 (or 14.4$) are Negroes. There are 3,319,213 (or 85.9$) -whites of Toting age, twenty-one years of age and over; 1720 (or .1$) other races of voting age, and 540,788 (or 14.0$) Negroes of voting age. These Negroes are not dispersed evenly throughout Texas—there tends to be a concentration of Negroes in the Eastern portion of the state. In the light of these facts, the potentiality of the Negro vote in Texas should be studied. The present laxity of administration of election laws and how they could be improved should also be considered. The central hypothesis of this study is represented by the following questions» Are there enough Negroes in Texas to have any influence on the elections? Are there any instances in which Negro voters are in a majority? What is the potentiality of the Negro vote in Texas as a whole and in the political sub-divisions in particular? Are there any election laws which tend to prohibit the Negro from voting? Does the administration of these laws have any affect on the number of Negroes voting?

The terminology of this study is clarified as each term is given a specific meaning. The potentiality of the Negro vote means the possible influence, or voting power, that the Negroes have in the state as a whole and the political sub-divisions Congressional districts, senatorial districts, representative districts, counties, precincts, and municipalities.

By administration of election laws, is meant the execution, management, or direction of these laws. Election laws are any laws which have direct or indirect bearing on the voting procedure. The election laws sire derived from the constitution, statutes passed by the Legislature, court decisions and from opinions of the Attorney General's Department.

Committee Chair/Advisor

T. R. Solomon

Committee Member

H. A. Bullock

Committee Member

C. R. Hall

Committee Member

J. L. Boyer

Publisher

Prairie View State Normal And Industrial College

Rights

Date of Digitization

3/15/2022

Contributing Institution

John B Coleman Library

City of Publication

Prairie View

MIME Type

Application/PDF

Recommended Citation

Wall, P. A. (1945). The Potentiality Of The Negro Vote In Texas. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.pvamu.edu/pvamu-theses/1318