Oklahoma Journeys

Week of February 9, 2008

Vote Taken on Registration Bill/House Fight - February 18, 1916

Political pugilists and registration woes make the news this week on Oklahoma Journeys. Before he would sign the act proclaiming Oklahoma a state, President Theodore Roosevelt required that no racially based voting restrictions be included in the state constitution. Oklahoma legislatures complied with that request, achieved statehood, and then immediately set about trying to disenfranchise the state’s black population. That story on this week’s Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma Historical Society.

From the Oklahoma Historical Society, this is Oklahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.

Beginning in 1910 Oklahoma legislators embarked on a crusade of sorts intent on disenfranchising the state’s African American population. Initially lawmakers added an amendment to the constitution known as the Grandfather clause. Most southern states’ constitutions held this clause stating basically, “If your Grandfather was legally allowed to vote before 1867, then so could you.” For most blacks in the state their grandfathers would have been newly freed slaves in 1867, unable to vote, so under the law they couldn’t vote either. In 1915 this Grandfather clause was declared unconstitutional.

State lawmakers then began working on another scheme to prevent black voting. The Registration Bill, as it was called, required anyone who wasn’t able to vote before 1914 to register in the books of the county election board. Since the Grandfather clause had prevented most blacks from voting before 1914, this new bill, as it was designed to, affected only African Americans. There was declared a ten-day window twice a year during which blacks could legally sign up to vote. Black voters who then went to register found curious events taking place: the election board might have “moved” to an undisclosed location during those ten days, or the signature books might be “missing,” or stolen, only to reappear when the ten day window was over. This Registration Bill was designed to keep blacks from voting and since most blacks at that time were members of the Republican Party, the Oklahoma Republicans fought the bill when it came up before the House of Representatives.

It was in this week of 1916 that the registration bill was introduced on the house floor and the debates began. The argument between Republicans and Democrats became so heated that, in addition to the usual name-calling, an actual riot broke out on the floor of the House. Newspapers reported that for more than five minutes the Democrats and Republicans punched, kicked and clawed each other, while others leapt on their desks throwing inkwells and paperweights. The political pile up was brought to a standstill only when Representative Luther Harris of Seminole County climbed on his desk and began bellowing out the popular hymn, Nearer My God To Thee. Despite the great potential for injury, the only victims in the fight were the African Americans, as the restrictive voting registration bill passed and remained a law on the Oklahoma books until 1937.

Full accounts of the Registration Act, the Representative Riots and thousands of other fascinating facts of Oklahoma history are located within the archives, library and newspaper departments at the Oklahoma History Center. Oklahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma Historical Society, dedicated to the collection, preservation, and sharing of our state’s past. I’m Michael Dean.