The Disfranchisement of the Negro / The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers No. 6

The essay argues that the legal campaign to strip Black citizens of political rights stems from a deep-rooted doctrine of racial inferiority sustained by Southern interests determined to maintain economic and political dominance after emancipation. It links antebellum slave ideology to postwar policies, describes the freed population’s sudden transition to freedom accompanied by poverty, ignorance, and exposure to persecution, and contends that disenfranchisement is deliberate, not remedial. The author examines motives, methods, and constitutional implications, portraying exclusionary measures as morally corrupt efforts to secure social subjection rather than promote republican principles.