Dekalb E Walcott
Historian Dekalb E. Walcott, Jr. brings a Little-Known Chapter of Black Voting History Back Into the SpotlightOn December 5, 1887, in Jackson, Mississippi, not a single Black citizen voted in the city’s municipal election. They experienced a stunning reversal of the political rights which they had exercised following the Civil War. That largely overlooked chapter of American history is the focus of 1887 Municipal Election at Jackson, Mississippi: The U.S. Senate Investigation That Exposed Election Fraud and Voter Suppression, compiled by retired Chicago Fire Department Battalion Chief and historian Dekalb E. Walcott, Jr. Drawing from the historical record of a U.S. Senate investigation, the book examines how threats, intimidation, and armed groups were used to drive Black citizens away from the polls. Black residents who had previously participated in Jackson’s elections were effectively disenfranchised overnight. What happened in Jackson was more than a local political dispute. The election came during a critical period when the political gains Black Americans had achieved following the Civil War and Reconstruction were rapidly being dismantled. In a striking historical coincidence, the 50th United States Congress convened in Washington, D.C., on that same day, December 5, 1887, marking the first time in nearly two decades that Congress met without a single Black member. The suppression in Jackson also foreshadowed what was to come. Mississippi subsequently enacted Jim Crow laws, culminating in the Mississippi Constitution of 1890, which used measures including poll taxes and literacy tests to severely restrict Black political participation for generations. Walcott’s lifelong commitment to uncovering and preserving overlooked African American history spans more than four decades. Through 1887 Municipal Election at Jackson, Mississippi, he brings this pivotal episode out of the shadows and places the evidence of the U.S. Senate investigation before a new generation of readers.
