The Journal of Negro History, Volume 4, 1919Various
History
The Journal of Negro History, Volume 4, 1919
Various
African Americans -- Periodicals
Q. How about the discrimination in the courts as between the
whites and blacks?--A. That is principally in matters of larceny.
In such cases the presumption is reversed as to the Negro. A
white man can't be convicted without the fullest proof, and with
the Negroes, in matters between themselves, such as assault and
battery, they get as fair a trial as the whites. At the January
term of our court Judge Avery presided. A white man and a colored
woman were indicted for an affray. The woman was in her husband's
barn getting out corn; they were going to move, and the white man
came down there and said, "You seem to have a good time laughing
here this morning," and she said, yes, she had a right to laugh.
He said, "You are getting that corn out, and you would have made
more if you had stuck to your husband." She seemed to be a sort
of termagant, and she said nobody said that about her unless you
told them. He made some insulting remark, and she made something
in return to him, and he took a billet of wood and struck her on
the shoulder, and he pulled a pistol and beat her with it, and
she went for him to kill him. _They found the man not guilty and
they found her guilty_, but Judge Avery set the verdict aside and
ordered the case _nolle prossed_ against her.
Q. Do you think that is a fair sample of the justice they
get?--A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you think they will convict a colored woman in order to get
a chance to turn loose a white man?--A. Yes, sir.
Mr. Badger was not our witness. He was called by the majority,
but he is a gentleman of high character, the son of an ex-member
of this body, and thoroughly acquainted with the condition of
things in his State. He puts the case just mentioned as a "fair
sample" of North Carolina justice toward the Negro. It is true
the judge set aside the verdict, but this does not change the
fact that before a North Carolina jury the Negro has but little
hope of justice.
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