Fourth Generation Inclusive

The following Wayne County free men of color registered to vote, naming Absalom Artis, as their qualifying ancestor under the Grandfather Clause: A.B. Artis, age 29; Mack Artis, age 52; Joseph Artis, age 21; Nathan Artis, age 42; and Donnie Artis, age 21.  Albert Artis, age 58, named Absalom’s son Edwin Artis.  All the voters lived in Nahunta township except Nathan, who lived in Saulston.

With an express design to disenfranchise black voters, in 1900, North Carolina passed a constitutional amendment requiring that voters be able to read and write a section of the state constitution and pay a poll tax.  To avoid disenfranchising illiterate whites, the amendment contained a “grandfather clause,” which exempted a registrant from the literary requirement if he or a lineal ancestor was eligible vote on 1 Jan 1867.  A number of free men of color were thus able to thwart the law’s intent.