Point 1: The right to vote did not necessarily translate into city resources
for African-Americans in Chicago.
Though they were technically afforded the right to vote by the 15th Amendment,
Southern legilslation such as this 1898
Louisiana Grandfather Clause and property and poll taxes, as found
in the 1802
Constitution of Virginia , disenfranchised over ninety percent of blacks
of voting age in those states (79 McAdams). However, the Illinois
state legislature removed the barriers to black voting by the end of the
19th century (163 Grossman).
Unfortunately, the right to vote did not translate into meeting the
needs of blacks in Chicago. Addressing these needs was impeded by
ineffective black leaders as declared by Dr. George C. Hall of Chicago
on the frontpage of the Chicago Daily News on July 28, 1919:
“The
colored people have simply been sold out by colored leaders. Our leaders
are in the hands of white politicians. That is the whole situation in a
nutshell. We need representatives who are strictly representative, who
are responsible first of all to the people of the ward.”
In 1928 the Journal of Negro History noted:
"Politically
the race has shown no great civic advance. It is still the prey of
machine politics of both the white and colored races and it is subject
to the same demoralization which is manifest in the rest of a community
whose politics is spoil-ridden."
Blacks throughout the period of the Great Migration were forced to live
in the least desirable housing and could only obtain the lowest quality
of employment. Public instititutions often did not provide blacks
with sufficient service if any at all. Despite the right to vote in Chicago,
blacks received limited city resources and could rarely influence public
policy (260 Grossman).
Point 2
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