County No. 6, 20,000 white people, 22,000 Negroes: “No Negroes serve on the jury in the county courts in this county.”
Tennessee.—No information about Negro jury service in Tennessee has been obtainable.
Texas.—County No. 1, 6,300 white people, 7,800 Negroes: “... As to Negro jurors ... as a rule, in the County Court about one-tenth are Negroes, and they are rarely ever discriminated against. I do not recall a case where they have been rejected on account of race or color by white men. As a rule, they are not so acceptable to Negro litigants as they are to those of the other races. There are a larger per cent. of Negroes in the district court, and there is rarely any criticism. In fact, no prejudice exists here against them as jurors, largely from the fact that only our best Negro citizens are drawn on the juries.... I think the per cent. of Negro jurors has increased. They are simply accepted or struck off as any other citizen. I believe more are accepted by white than colored litigants. They have served on some of our very important cases....”
County No. 2, 14,000 white people, 9,000 Negroes: “We haven’t had any Negroes on the jury in ... county for several years. They used to have a few on the jury several years ago, so I have been informed, but none in the last few years.”
County No. 3, 21,000 white people, 16,000 Negroes: “We do not use Negro jurors in our State or county courts at all.”
County No. 4, 7,000 white people, 8,000 Negroes: “... It has been the rule of ... county to have Negroes on the grand and petit juries. They have given satisfaction. The colored jurors are represented by about 25 per cent. of the jurors.”
The cases quoted from in the earlier part of this chapter show even better than these letters the attitude of Texas toward Negro jurors.
Virginia.—County No. 1, 6,700 white people, 8,500 Negroes: “No Negro juror in this court for ten years, and I don’t think that there will ever be....”
County No. 2, 3,900 white people, 5,500 Negroes: “... from reconstruction days up to ten or twelve years ago a few Negroes served on the jury of this county. My impression is ... that they made very little impression in the jury, and they were completely dominated by white men in said bodies, who were, of course, greatly in the majority. At this time no Negro jurors are drawn at all.”
County No. 3, 3,000 white people, 6,000 Negroes: “... there are no Negroes on our jury list. On several occasions when we had to make up a jury we have put a few on. The impression is here that it does not do to mix the races even in the jury-box.”