STATEMENT OF CHARLES A. McLEAN, WINSTON-SALEM, N. C., ACCOMPANIED BY CLARENCE MITCHELL

Mr. MITCHELL. I am Clarence Mitchell. I would like to introduce. for the record, Mr. Charles McLean, of Winston-Salem, N. C., who is here to testify on some of his personal observations in connection with the denial of the right to register and vote in North Carolina. Senator ERVIN. We would be glad to have Brother McLean testify before us. I have known him for some time.

Mr. McLEAN. Mr. Chairman, I have so many records here that I don't know which one to start with first.

I might say that I was not anticipating appearing today at all, so I am not as well organized as I normally would be. However, since the opportunity presents itself, and it might not be here tomorrow, I must take advantage of it.

As has been said, I am Charles McLean, from North Carolina. I have had considerable experience with various denials of registration in many counties of North Carolina, and in most of the counties from which reports have been made.

Many of them I experienced personally. I was there with the persons. Some of them, of course, were friends and acquaintances of mine who had had experiences that were not pleasant for them, and felt that probably they would have at least some moral support if they had someone with them.

Senator ERVIN. As a matter of fact, didn't you have some duty in that connection as a member of the NAACP?

Mr. MCLEAN. In some cases, I certainly did. But in many cases it was before I was connected with the NAACP. As a matter of fact, the first experience I had was my own, when I came out of collegeeither when I came out of college or university. I went in my own precinct, which is in Harnett and not Forsyth. I went to register. This was some time ago, in 1936, to be exact. The registrar denied me. He was a very good friend of mine. I don't know whether you are interested in that far back or not.

Senator ERVIN. That is pretty far back.

Mr. MCLEAN. I have had experience where I was not at all connected with NAACP.

Senator ERVIN. During the last year you were field representative of the NAACP in North Carolina?

Mr. MCLEAN. Last year and the year before last.

Senator ERVIN. And it was your function, among other things, to investigate this type of thing?

Mr. MCLEAN. That is very true. I tried to do a good job.

On many cases, we would get the information that persons had been denied the right to register, and many cases I observed it myself. We would make the report to Mr. Britt during the time he was chairman, and since then, to the new chairman. Of course, we have not made as many reports to him as we did to Mr. Britt. I was always directed to Mr. Maxwell, executive secretary of the State board of elections, so much so that I began making most of my reports to Mr. Maxwell. Mr. Maxwell, of course, had done some investigating. I have a lot of correspondence here from him, some of which probably bears out what we are talking about better than I could, if I would try to present them.

1 We were talking about Northampton County-that is the county from which the young man (Mr. Faison) who has just finished testifying comes. We had some reports, not only from that precinct, but from many of the precincts in Northampton County. We also have some correspondence from the chairman of that paricular board.

Those reports and that correspondence bear out that in some of the cases the registrars admitted that they were not living up to the regulations.

I brought along one of the election law books. I should remind you, because it will probably come up in this discussion, that the law in North Carolina is now 30 days in the precincts and not 4 months as it was sometime ago.

Senator ERVIN. There was a constitutional amendment. We used to have a three-fold requirement, one about residence in the State, one about residence in the county, and then one about residence in the precinct.

Mr. MCLEAN. Probably you are going beyond me, but I do know it is only 30 days.

The law says this is section 28:

Voters must be able to read and write; exceptions. Every person presenting himself for registration shall be able to read and write any section of the Constitution in the English language, and shall show to the satisfaction of the registrar his ability to read and write any such section when he applies for registration, and before he is registered: Provided, however, That no male person who was, on January 1, 1867, or at any time prior thereto, entitled to vote under the laws of any State in the United States where he then resided, and no lineal descendant of such person shall be denied the right to register and vote at any election in the State by reason of his failure to possess the educational qualifications aforesaid; provided, that said elector shall have registered prior to December 1, 1908, in accordance with article 6, section 4, of the Constitution and laws made in pursuance thereto.

The reason I wanted to get that in is because I will bring up some

cases

Senator ERVIN. Part of that is the so-called grandfather clause, which was outlawed by a decision in Oklahoma in 1916, as I recall it. Mr. MCLEAN. Maybe so, but it is still being used in North Carolina. And I will, of course, bring up the cases where it is being used in North Carolina, and has been used as recently as this past registration. Senator ERVIN. We will adjourn for lunch and come back at 2:30. (Whereupon, at 1:15 p. m., a recess was taken until 2:30 p. m., of the same day.)

AFTERNOON SESSION.

Senator ERVIN (presiding). The committee will come to order. You may proceed.

STATEMENT OF CHARLES A. McLEAN, WINSTON-SALEM, N. C., ACCOMPANIED BY CLARENCE MITCHELL, WASHINGTON, D. C.Resumed

Mr. MCLEAN. Mr. Chairman, I believe we started with Northampton County.

I had complaints made to me about the failure to register, Negroes who were not able to satisfy the registrars in Northampton County. I made a number of investigations in that county and had reported this to Mr. Maxwell.

This letter to Mr. Maxwell from Mr. Beall, who is the chairman, or who was the chairman of the county board of elections at that time, will probably explain what was done.

The letter is from Mr. Beall to Mr. R. C. Maxwell, executive secretary, State Board of Elections, Raleigh, N. C.

I received your letter of the 4th enclosing copies of letters written by the Secretary of the NAACP, dated the 30th.

Since receiving your letter I have made an investigation of the complaints made by the field secretary of the NAACP.

The accusation there was that the registrar would not register them on that day at all, the first day of registration, just refused to register anybody that day. And this is an explanation of why.

I delivered the registration books on April 24. Pleasant Hill precinct I could not find Mr. Crews

that is the registrar

However, when I got the

I left the books for that precinct with Mr. Marvin Coker. Mr. Crews was confused as to the date on which the registration was to begin, and he felt registration was not to begin until Saturday, May the 5th.

I had a complaint from a number of people who had been there. I have their letter in the file. They had been there to register. They found that the registrar was in bed at home. He was not at the registering place. They went to his home and they inquired of him if they could register.

He said, "No, the day is not registration day," but all of the other precincts were registering.

Of course, the persons who were not permitted to register got the complaint in to me. The registrar's excuse was that he got confused. He didn't know the registration was that day.

In West Roanoke the registrar is Mrs. Spivey. Mr. Beal had this to say about her: "She carefully was examined, as she should be under the law. She had not taken 2 hours to register 1 person."

The complaint was that Mrs. Spivey had taken up to 2 hours to register 1 individual. Consequently, there was only 1 or 2, very few would get to pass before her.

The Seaboard precinct is Mrs. Taylor, but you have heard of Mrs. Taylor, so I will skip that.

In the Jackson precinct, Mr. Fly is the registrar.

Senator ERVIN. I would like to hear about Mrs. Taylor again.

Mr. McLEAN. Mrs. Taylor did not take 45 minutes. She took long periods of time to register any college students.

Of course, it seems she took from between then to now. She also told me

Senator ERVIN. Wait a minute. I want to strike out the "between now and then." You are reading and interpolating there. You and myself understand, but when you get it down on here they might not understand it.

Mr. McLEAN. I see.

He also told me that she had refused to register some high-school graduates, because they could not explain words in the preamble of the Constitution.

We go to the Jackson precinct. The report on Mr. Fly was that he was feeling very good that day, and he had registered persons up to around noon, but by that time he got to feeling so good, he walked out.

He asked the last person trying to register to tell him how many rooms were in the courthouse. The fellow didn't know how many rooms in the courthouse. He didn't register, but he was the last one to go before Mr. Fly that day.

I was not there.

Senator ERVIN. Mr. Fly, you say, got to feeling pretty good. You mean the information was that he had been imbibing a little too much?

Mr. McLEAN. That was it; yes.

Senator ERVIN. I would assume that a drunk registrar would not have much more sense than any other drunk man.

Mr. McLEAN. Now, we get to the Gaston precinct where more Negroes were turned down than in any other precinct in Northampton County.

And I should say that Northampton County, you know that county-Northampton County is a county that has the greatest percent of Negro population of any county as against whites, of any county in North Carolina.

I believe it has been reported to be about 70 percent Negro population.

Senator ERVIN. It is below Warren. Warren has 73 percent.

Mr. McLEAN. Warren-what we call regular Warren is sixty-oddin the magazine there-you know what magazine, printed out of Raleigh you take it down there and I do, too-they put Northampton above any county.

I also believe Halifax comes above Warren.

Senator ERVIN. I was going to say Warren is 73 percent.

Mr. MCLEAN. Warren, if it is 73 then, of course

Senator ERVIN. It was when I had the Spellar case the colored population was 73 percent. They got a jury in Warren County—the jury was from Warren.

Mr. MCLEAN. That is what I know about that.

In Northampton Mrs. W. A. Vinson is a registrar, and she registered in her home.

You see, all of this has been in Northampton County as the Judge knows. West Gaston precinct is in Northampton. This is a letter concerning this. A public place for the registration of the voters is not available in this precinct and the Negro voters must register in someone's home. Any who register do so in the home of the registrar, Mrs. Vinson.

Mrs. Vinson has been giving applicants for registration an oral and written examination "and I have instructed her to confirm her examinations to require the applicants to read and write the constitution of North Carolina."

This letter is dated in May 1956 and was for the primary election, as you might observe.

i

At that time, on the first day there she turned-I mean, I saw there about 20 persons and I didn't stay there all day, of course. But it was reported to me reliably that about 50 people applied for registration that day-were there to be registered that day.

Twenty of them were not permitted to register. And since, of course, it takes some time with them, I do not mean takes 45 minutes or nearly the time, that was about all that could get before her.

Those others were out there waiting. That is one of the methods. And I am sure you recognize that.

Senator ERVIN. About 5 more weeks, though, of registration.
Mr. MCLEAN. What did you say?

Senator ERVIN. There were about 5 more weeks of registration.
Mr. McLEAN. There were about 5 more weeks?

Senator ERVIN. Yes, altogether.

Mr. MCLEAN. Yes, there were, but after the 5 weeks the applicants still had not passed her. I mean still had not an opportunity to present themselves because that was 50 that day.

But there were 50 more waiting the next day and the next day. And, of course, during that registration there were only 2 more registration days. That was the first one. That was the first one. And they only have 3

in the primary-that only gave them 2 more.

Senator ERVIN. They can register any day for the primary, from the day the books open to the day they close. Unless they have a terribly big precinct, they will get through pretty easy if they register 20 a day.

Mr. McLEAN. Well, I was thinking that you were aware of the fact that the Negroes cannot register, because they cannot satisfy the registrar on the regular registration days.

And I am sure you are aware that the registrar is not required to register on other days. She may register if she or he desires to. Senator ERVIN. They are required to attend the polling places on Saturday. But they can be registered any other day.

Mr. MCLEAN. As I was about to say, I am sure that if you cannot satisfy the registrar on the regular days then it would be more difficult on the day she is or he is not required to register voters.

The other 4 or 5 days

Senator ERVIN. You yourself do not know how many of these people could read and write.

Mr. McLEAN. Well, I don't know about them, but I have copies of their handwriting and heard their reading, and can present it to you. Senator ERVIN. Well, anyway, unfortunately, there are a great many people in North Carolina who cannot read or write.

Mr. MCLEAN. That is very unfortunate. But these are persons who can read or write. And, of course, I will show you evidence of some of their reading and writing. Their own exhibits, if need be and will be available to you, I am sure. It is all available to you. I have their names and addresses here.

I might say that that went on for the primary-the entire three Saturdays of the primary registration. During that time I think two people did register-it has been reported to me that they did.

And after getting this letter from Beall we presumed that he did as he said he did. But it had no effect apparently on Mrs. Vinson, because when the October registration began for the general election the results were about approximately the same.

One of the great handicaps was that Mrs. Vinson would tell them, if they tried, say, the first Saturday and failed, they would then be told not to come back any more that primary. They could not try again until November, until the following November election, the general election.

They could not try but once in any time that the books are open, any of those three Saturdays. Of course, the same thing held