Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 17 July 1937.
In 1937, an African-American man selected to serve on a Superior Court jury was the stuff of newspaper articles.
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jury service
More on the trial of Caesar Wooten.
Wilson Advance, 12 November 1891.
I posted here about the death of Mittie Strickland and the years-long search for her killer, Caesar Wooten. This account of the trial reveals a new detail — the jury included two African-American men, Ishmael Wilder and Daniel Vick.
Wilson County admits African Americans to jury duty.
The Black Dispatch (Oklahoma City, Okla.), 13 June 1935.
Of course, I went looking to find out what the Daily Times had to say about this.
Not a whole lot. On page 4 of the 4 June 1935 edition, halfway down a column headlined “Salary Increases Given to County Employees Today”:
Wilson Daily Times, 4 June 1935.
The lead case challenging the systematic exclusion of African-Americans from juries was Norris v. Alabama, 294 U.S. 587 (1935). Wilson County Attorney Harry G. Connor Jr.’s advice was terse and understated: “… it would be wise and safe[,] I might say wiser and safer, to put the names of several hundred negroes in the jury list. In doing this, care should be taken to get the best negroes in the county and not only that, I think it would be equally wise and safe to distribute them by townships as nearly as possible.”
The question, of course, is whether any of these “best negroes” made it onto juries.