Additional Topics
The ruling overturned the Court's decision, made just nine years earlier in Grovey v. Townsend (1935), that since political parties in Texas were designated as private organizations by the state legislature they could exclude African Americans from membership if they saw fit. Smith v. Allwright is a landmark in the Court's support of civil rights, and in the development of the so-called public fun…
In the years immediately following the Civil War, newly freed African Americans wielded immense political power in the southern United States, where they constituted a majority of the population. Southern whites saw this new political situation as intolerable, and contrived means to suppress the new voting majority. No tactics of suppression were deemed beyond consideration. Vigilante bands such a…
The Court's attitude toward the disenfranchisement of African Americans in the South began to change in the late 1930s, as appointees of President Franklin D. Roosevelt began to assert their views in its decisions. A case brought by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department to fight corruption in local politics provided the impetus for the Court to reverse its position as defined in…
Lonnie E. Smith, an African American resident of Harris County, Texas, appeared before election judge S. S. Allwright on 27 July 1940 to cast a ballot in the Democratic Party primary to nominate candidates for the upcoming national senatorial, congressional, and presidential campaigns. Allwright refused Smith's request for a ballot on the basis of his race. Smith left the election office without f…
Justice Reed delivered the decision of the Court, which voted 8-1 to reverse the lower court rulings and compel the Texas Democratic Party to allow Mr. Smith to cast his primary ballot. In its decision, the Court expressly abandoned the position it adopted in Grovey. The Court reasoned that since the Constitution guarantees all citizens the right to vote, and given the vital nature of participatio…
Smith v. Allwright ended forever the state- sanctioned denial of the voting rights of large groups of citizens based on their race. Subsequent attempts to exclude African Americans from political participation would include poll taxes and literacy tests, but these could only be directed against individuals, not entire minority groups. The final battles against this sort of individual exclusion wou…
The "Public Function" concept in connection to voting relates to the authority that is granted to a specified individual, such as a town, city, or county clerk, to run an election. This delegation of power to said person is governed by the laws of the state. In this position, his or her public function is designated by and limited to parameters established by law. Persons operating in this capacit…
Citing this material
Please include a link to this page if you have found this material useful for research or writing a related article. Content on this website is from high-quality, licensed material originally published in print form. You can always be sure you're reading unbiased, factual, and accurate information.
Highlight the text below, right-click, and select “copy”. Paste the link into your website, email, or any other HTML document.
User Comments Add a comment…