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1340 An American Dilemma
When Mr, Hayes later went into the store to rectify the matter, a policeman caught
him by the belt as he started to leave. When he stated that his wife did not curse (as the
clerk contended that she had), an un-uniformed man bit him in the mouth. The
policeman handcuffed Mr. Hayes and took him and his wife and daughter to the police
station. In the car, Mr. Hayes was struck again. Mr. Hayes and his wife were put in a
cell, later released on $50 bond.®
In both Mrs. Lewis’ and Mr. Hayes’ cases, further action did not follow because
of the ensuing publicity, but the ordinary Negro in similar circumstances would have
been fined or imprisoned.
® Guy B. Johnson observes:
. . for the most part each plantation or household was a little realm In which the
slaveowner was lord and master and had jurisdiction over the punishment of his slaves
for all except those serious offenses which were recognized as crimes against the state.
This fact is of great significance for the understanding of racial conflict, for it means
that white people during the long period of slavery became accustomed to the idea of
‘regulating’ Negro insolence and insubordination by force with the consent and approval
of the law.”**
^
“In the rural areas the punishment of Negroes is largely in the hands of white
planters. They whip Negroes both for infractions of the caste rules and for minor
:rimes, such as fighting or theft. Furthermore, the planter for whom the Negro works
either participates in the punishment himself or gives his permission. Some planters*
assert that they are solely responsible for their own Negroes and that no one else has any
right to punish them.”®
® Compare John Dollard, Caste and Class in a Southern Town (1937), pp. 122 ff.
and Chapter 8, and Davis, Gardner, and Gardner, of, cit,y pp. 55-56, 336 ff., fassim.
See also Chapter 27, Section I.
® Raper, of, cit,y p. 6. “The conductors in charge of trains operated in these [Jim
Crow] states are in practically every instance given police powers to enforce the regula-
tion.”** Some street car conductors in Southern cities carry guns and use them to
threaten Negroes.
Raper, of, cit,, especially pp. 6-10 and 35-63.
8 Ibid,, p. 7.
^ Ibid,, pp. 13-18 and appendices i, 6, and 9.
^^Ibid,,^. 14.
“When a department goes on civil service, the more flagrant abuses of ‘log rolling’
are eliminated, but the department even then is not immune to political bias. Civil service
commissions sometimes reflect factionalism. Even if the commissioners achieve absolute
Impartiality, there is still plenty of opportunity to leave off the person with a high civil
service ranking and appoint others with lower ratings, for the common practice is to make
a selection from the three highest ranking applicants, which means the third highest
may secure the appointment. The other two would then remain on the list, to be called
back along with a new third, and again the first and second ranking applicants can be
•See Time (July 27, 1942), p. 17.
**
“Patterns of Race Conflict” in /^ace Relations and the Race Problem, Edgar T. Thomp-
son (editor) (1939), p. 130.
* Allison Davis, B. B. Gardner, and M. R. Gardner, Deef South (1941), pp. 55-56.
^Charles S, Manguin, Jr., he^al Status of the Negro (1940), p. 183.
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