Breaking the White Primary:

The Primus King Case

"1944...July 4th, 1944. I walked on up there to the lawyer's office and the lawyer said to me: "Primace, do you really want to sue the Democratic Primary Party? Do you know what you're doing?" I told him, yes sir, I know."

Interview of Primus King, Civil Rights leader, by Paul A. Davis. 1979

"I don't know why, but I started crying. The Judge asked me if I wanted the right to vote or the $5000. I told him I wanted the right to vote for me and my people."

The Reverend Primus King.

In 1944, the Georgia Constitution prohibited African-Americans from voting in primary elections. On July 4, 1944, Columbus resident Primus King along with four other African-American men, drove to downtown Columbus to attempt to vote in the local Democratic primary. Although the other men were scared away by a plainclothes detective, King entered the Muscogee County Courthouse, but was turned away from the ballot box. Backed by the local African-American community, King retained a lawyer and filed suit against the members of the Muscogee County Democratic Executive Committee. The lawsuit alleged that King's 15th Amendment Rights had been violated, and he requested $5,000 in damages. The Federal District Court in Macon ruled that King had been denied his rights under the Constitution, and ordered a $100 verdict to the plaintiff. Although the case was appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, in 1946 the decision was upheld, and African-Americans gained the right to vote in Georgia primaries.

Sources: Court Document of Primus King Case, Alva C. Smith Collection, Columbus State University Archives. Primus King Newspaper Clippings, Alva C. Smith Collection, Columbus State University Archives. City of Progress, Whitehead and Bogart, Columbus Office Supply, 1978.

"Give us the Ballot..."
Martin Luther King, Jr. May 17, 1957
A Memorial

1955: Reverend George Lee, one of the first black people registered to vote in Humphreys County, used his pulpit and his printing press to urge others to vote. White officials offered Lee protection on the condition he end his voter registration efforts, but Lee refused and was murdered.
May 7, 1955 - Belzoni, Miss.
1961: Herbert Lee, who worked with civil rights leader Bob Moses to help register black voters, was killed by a state legislator who claimed self-defense and was never arrested. Louis Allen, a black man who witnessed the murder, was also killed.
September 25, 1961 - Liberty Miss.

Forms of Disfranchisement

Poll TaxesRequirement of payment to vote.
Literacy Tests Adoption of the secret ballot to confuse and intimidate illiterate black voters.
Understanding Clause Literacy and educational requirements set by the state or requirement of registrant to understand a section of the Constitution.
Grandfather Clause To avoid disfranchising poor, illiterate white voters, the states enacted this clause granting the right to vote to anyone whose grandfather could have voted prior to 1867. Grandfathers of most black men at this time had been slaves and ineligible to vote.
Georgia was the only state to enact all forms of disfranchisement.

Background image. African-Americans turned out in large numbers to cast their ballots in the Atlanta Democratic primary on July 17, 1946. Taken from: Wilkinson, Brenda. The Civil Rights Movement: An Illustrated History. New York: Cresent Books, p. 73.

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