Since mom's death in January 2023, my brother Richard and I have been on a long journey to get her and dad's house in Huntsville ready for an estate sale. This effort has involved going through many different "collections" in the house. One of course included all of her remaining original art, licensed items such as prints and the vast paperwork of her art business.
Another large group of materials contained family memorabilia, not only mom and dad's but much from their parents as well, especially dad's. Many of these materials are paper items, and we've discovered some amazing things. Thus we come to the subject of this blog post.
On April 23, 1901, through significant voter fraud, a statewide referendum was approved calling for a constitutional convention. Via the 1875 Constitution Democrats had achieved many of their goals to weaken or remove changes made under previous Republican rule in the state. Yet the ability of blacks and poor whites to vote remained and had to be curtailed as much as possible to keep the wealthy white power structure in place.
The convention opened on May 21 and met continuously except Sundays and July 4 until September 3. The new document included such voting conditions as literacy tests, employment and property ownership requirements and payment of a poll tax. Veterans of wars, descendants of such veterans, and males who could prove they understood the U.S. Constitution were allowed to vote even if other requirements were not met.
In effect, as intended, many poor white and most African American men could not qualify to vote. You can read all the details here. The constitution was "approved" by voters in November 1901.
The original 1901 Constitution, Article VIII, "Suffrage and Elections", Section 186, Part Two states: "The registrars shall issue to each person registered a certificate of registration."
Hmmm....well, I've never received a certificate this elaborate, or anything approaching it. Back in the early days of my voting, the 1970s, I seem to remember getting a small registration card. I wonder when use of certificates such as this one ended? Since there are spaces for writing in the county and precinct or ward number the state must have issued these forms Maybe the answer is hidden somewhere in the hundreds of pages of the current constitution....
At any rate, just months after the November vote, this certificate was being used and is dated 13 April 1902. The lucky registrant is J. W. Wright, living in Attalla in Etowah County. The item certifies that he has become “a Qualified Elector as provided by the Constitution”.
The registrars are given as R.A.D. Dunlap, D.N. Jelks and W.D. Thornton. The other side of the certificate declares "The Voice of the People Is The Country's Safety".
My dad and I were both born in Etowah County; his parents and their families had lived there for decades. We had and still have many relatives there. I've been through the Wright genealogy dad wrote, however, and did not find a "J.W. Wright".
This certificate with its elaborate decorations is an interesting piece of printing art. Other related documents, two which were also found in the family papers, can be seen below.
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