Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/278

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". . . There is no record of Negroes ever serving as jurors in this county."

Kentucky.—No replies have come from the seven counties of Kentucky in which Negroes constitute a large percentage of the population. But the following is quoted from a letter from the Assistant Attorney General of the State: "Negro jurors are sometimes selected in various parts of the State, and I presume all over the State. Twenty years ago the custom was more prevalent than at present of putting Negroes on the juries. They were the best class of Negroes, and I am reliably informed that in various parts of the State the Negroes themselves requested to be left off the juries, which may account for the fact that the practice seems to have fallen into disuse."

Louisiana.—Parish No. 1, 3,900 white people, 12,700 Negroes: ". . . we now have no Negroes to serve on the jury here at all. Some years ago we had Negro jurors, but they proved so unsatisfactory that they were gradually dropped out and for several years [we] have had no Negroes at all."

Parish No. 2, 8,800 white people, 11,300 Negroes: ". . . Negroes serve as jurors in this parish to a limited extent. The jury commissioners, when they know of an exceptionally good, honest, sober and industrious Negro, have no objections to placing his name in the jury-box. It is true, however, that the number is very limited, owing to the fact that very few Negroes will come to the standard as far as the above qualifications are concerned. Out of the 300 names in the jury-box from which we draw our juries, there are about a dozen Negroes. The Negroes