this is a correct pronunciation of the way they are usually pronounced, and you say you didn't read them that way?

And he said that was his recollection but he did read them correctly. Now, I do know this, Senator, that in my opinion the colored citizens there, the two Negro attorneys, were anxious to get a test case on the North Carolina statute and on our constitutional provision. Now it is my opinion that they got this case here, and their main objective was to get a test case more so than to try out the individual rights of the citizen, and they just made the mistake of getting somebody who turned out not to be a resident of the precinct.

Senator ERVIN. You say there were three members of the colored race on the jury?

Mr. GILES. Yes, sir.

Senator ERVIN. I will ask you if the law of the State of North Carolina does not require a verdict to be unanimous?

Mr. GILES. That is right.

Senator ERVIN. And the verdict was that he was not a resident?
Mr. GILES. That is right.

Senator ERVIN. I will ask you if it is not a matter of custom in North
Carolina when persons present themselves to vote that the only thing
that the election officials do is ascertain that they are registered?
Mr. GILES. That is right.

Senator ERVIN. They don't ask about changes of residence or things like that?

Mr. GILES. That is right.

Senator ERVIN. I believe in North Carolina the requisites of voting are these: First, that persons shall be 21 years of age; second, that they should be capable of reading and writing a section of the State constitution; and third, that they must not have been convicted of a felony-that is, they must not have been convicted of a felony unless they have had their rights of citizenship restored in the manner provided by law; fourth, that they shall be residents of the State for for 1 year at the time they present themselves for registration; and fifth, they shall be residents of the precincts in which they seek to register for is it 4 months?

Mr. GILES. Four months, sir, resident in the precinct.

Senator ERVIN. And I believe that is the sum total of North Carolina's qualifications. We have no poll tax prerequisite to voting.

Mr. GILES. Senator, I would just like to add this: In my opinion, on the basis of my personal participation in that trial, the witness who just testified here got a complete and fair trial at that place. He gave his story on the stand, and the registrar told hers, and the jury answered the issue of residence against him, the jury answered that the plaintiff had not read to the satisfaction of the registrar, but did answer another issue which the judge had submitted-I don't think it was pertinent, but the judge made most of his rulings against the defendant in that case-that the plaintiff could read and write. And my argument to the jury was, well, I think he can read and write, too, he is bound to if he can go to college. But we looked back to this day back in May and what he did before the registrar. And it seems to me that the verdict of the jury was accurate and was supported by all of the evidence in the case.

Senator ERVIN. Thank you. That is all.

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.

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. However, when I got the Pleasant Hill precinct I could not find Mr. Crews

that is the registrar

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

You

Senator ERVIN. Wait a minute. I want to strike out the "between now and then." You are reading and interpolating there. 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.

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.