Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/281

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  • tion that they are qualified under the law. The qualifications

for jurors are very strict in this State and comparatively few Negroes can qualify legally. In limited numbers they make very satisfactory jurors when the rights of their people are involved. As a rule, a Negro does not like to try a white man's case; they are much more inclined to convict Negroes charged with crime than are the white jurors, and Negro defendants always challenge Negro jurors. In the 'Black Belt' of Mississippi, a Negro can always receive a fair trial in the courts, but this is not so certain in the white counties. In the two counties where Negroes do not serve upon the juries, there are practically no Negroes qualified under the law, because none are registered voters."

County No. 4, 6,000 white people, 18,000 Negroes: "We don't have any Negro jurors at all in this county. We have very few registered Negroes in the county."

County No. 5, 7,000 white people, 7,000 Negroes: ". . . Negroes do sit on juries in this county at times. They have a right to serve as jurors when they have duly registered and paid their tax and some other qualifications. . . . But the Board of Supervisors draws the names of 200 or more persons on the first Monday of January in each year and puts them in a box, so many for each supervisor's district. But of late years the supervisors have not put many names of Negroes in the jury-box; therefore, we have not had very [many] Negro jurors. But we have one or two Negro jurors nearly every term of our court [circuit court]. . . ."

County No. 6, 8,000 white people, 28,700 Negroes: "The jury law in this State makes no discrimination on