Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 3, Number 1, Spring, 1991 Page: 31
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President John Nance Garner and other Capitol Hill
politicians, Smith got $150,000 of the $3 million
appropriated by the federal government for the Centennial
designated for a Negro exhibit. The appropriation
supported African American participation
in the Centennial celebration and the building of the
Hall of Negro Life at Fair Park."
Smith's two-year effort to secure financing
for African American participation in the Texas
Centennial paid off in several ways, making 1936 a
pivotal year for African American progress in Texas.
According to Smith, three organizations emerged
from African American participation in the Centennial:
the Texas Conference of Branches of the
NAACP, the Texas State Negro Chamber of Commerce,
and the Texas Negro Peace Officers Association.
On "Negro Achievement Day," October 19,
1936, the date designated for African American
activities at the Centennial, African Americans from
across the state met in Dallas for a black college
football game, track meet, and beauty pageant.
Beyond the festivities, however, this occasion provided
African Americans meeting in Dallas an opportunity
to plan strategy and coordinate their
efforts statewide to fight segregation and participate
in the political process.'2
In the fall of 1936, Jackson, Smith, and
other African American leaders reorganized the
Progressive Citizens League into the Progressive
Voters League to coordinate the political activity of
African Americans in Dallas. The new organization
consisted of representatives from all African
American groups in the city who served as an
advisory committee for the PVL's voter education
and poll tax payment activities. A nine-member
executive committee, which included Jackson as
president and Smith as vice-president, directed the
PVL's activities. Other members of the first executive
committee were C. E. Smith, attorney Roger Q.
Mason, A. A. Braswell, Mrs. George Moore, Mrs.
Lovie Mae Jackson, Mrs. Julius McCowan, and
Mrs. W. E. Shallowhorne. The latter two members
were elected at-large from the advisory committee
and reflected the PVL's attempt to represent as
broad a constituency as possible. Indeed, while
Jackson, Smith, and the executive committee
charted the PVL's course, the advisory committee
did most of the work. Each advisory committee
member usually represented an organization, such
as the Moorland YMCA, the Knights of Pythias, achurch, fraternity, sorority, or women's social club.
He or she was responsible for ensuring that each
member of the organization paid the poll tax in order
to vote. Some members of the PVL's advisory
committee, such as Mrs. Minnie Flanagan, who
became a member of the executive committee in
January 1937, did not represent a particular organization,
but worked in the house-to-house canvassing
campaign that the PVL used to register African
Americans who were not members of the fifty-two
organizations represented on the advisory committee.13
T HE IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE of the PVL was to
carry out a third poll tax payment campaign.
Under its new format, the PVL directed its fiftymember
organizations in a concerted effort to register
as many African American voters as possible for
the April 1937 city council election. The PVL
opened an office on San Jacinto Street and directed
a house-to-house canvassing campaign. Drawing
from its experience in the two previous campaigns,
the PVL established a speakers bureau which sent
out members to various community organizations to
inform them of the importance of the ballot in
securing civic and community improvements, and it
sponsored an essay contest for students under the
direction of Mrs. Marzel Hill.'4
The third poll tax campaign was the most
successful yet. From October 1936 to January
1937, approximately 7,000 African Americans
paid their poll taxes. African Americans became
one-sixth of the Dallas electorate and held the balance
of power in the April 1937 city council elections.
There were five civic associations in Dallas
competing for city council seats: the Forward Dallas
Association, the All-Dallas Association, the Citizens'
Charter Association, the Dallas Democratic Association,
and the Utility Rates Reduction League. All
recognized the potential strength of the black vote in
Dallas and sought its support. Unlike the situation
in previous elections, however, the white politicians
in these associations could not buy the black vote
and split it up among themselves. The PVL had
organized the black vote in Dallas into a bloc and
wanted some specific demands met and concessions
made before its leadership would endorse any candidates.
For the first time in Dallas history, the white
civic associations that controlled local politics had
to bargain with a unified African American electorate.15
Realizing the strength of their position, the
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Dallas County Heritage Society. Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 3, Number 1, Spring, 1991, periodical, 1991; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth35118/m1/33/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Historical Society.