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From: Russell Henderson <>
Subject: [LAORLEAN-L] LA. 'racist GOVERNOR' DAVIS DIES
Date: Sun, 05 Nov 2000 15:16:34 -0600
References: <26482-3A05B419-4271@storefull-282.iap.bryant.webtv.net>


James H. "Jimmie" Davis
Jimmie Davis served as Governor from 1960-1964. In the 1959 election,
Davis ran for governor as the champion of white supremacy. The racist
anti education platform was the prime issue in the election. In the
summer of 1960, Davis and his ultrasegragationist allies passed some of
the most reprehensible legislation in the history of America. Their
target was the poorest and most vulnerable citizens of Louisiana. Davis
and his allies declared war on Blacks and their allies.
Among the worst were bills outlawing common-law marriages and having
more than one child out of wed lock. The goal was to throw 23,000 mostly
Black children off Aid to Dependent Children. One bill removed persons
from voter roles who were not of good character; i.e., those in
common-law marriages and parents of illegitimate children. These laws
also harbinged a long nasty harsh attack on sexual reproduction that
continues today with State Police raids on abortion clinics and
governor-sponsored witch hunts at School-Based Health Clinics.
Davis and his cronies went after the nascent voting rights movement by
passing restrictive legislation requiring a literacy test and a
"constitutional interpretation" test. This onerous proceeding was
presented to the voters of Louisiana as a constitutional amendment which
was passed. (Fairclough p. 233).
Davis set back education in Louisiana. The legislature passed an Act
allowing Davis to shut every school in Louisiana if any were integrated.
In desperation, Davis called the legislature in Extraordinary Session to
keep the public schools closed. In rapid succession, Davis' package of
24 bills was passed. Key to the strategy was the use of the State police
to raid and take over the offices of the Orleans Public Schools. The
coercive power of the state was to be used to arrest and imprison anyone
implementing integration. Federal Judge J. Skelly Wright stood between
the constitution and the State government. Davis called five
Extraordinary Sessions and Wright declared law after law
unconstitutional. It was a circus, a complete travesty. Wright had to
restrain the entire police apparatus in Louisiana. The legislature
continued to pass one unconstitutional law after another, declaring a
"school holiday," removing school board members, freezing school board's
state funding. Davis tried to set up a precursor to vouchers that would
fund segregated academies across the state. In 1961, he appointed three
of his archsegragationist cronies to the East baton Rouge Parish school
board.
In 1962, Davis appointed a registrar of voters in New Orleans whose job
it was to stop the registering of Black voters.
The policy of Davis was to use the state powers to attack those opposed
to his fascistic practices. Jimmie Davis and his segregationist pals set
up the Louisiana Sovereignty Commission. The Commission and the
Legislative Joint Un-American Activities Committee used state taxpayer
dollars to spy upon and harass supporters of civil rights advocates.
University professors with national reputation such as Dr. Waldo McNeir
were hounded out of state. Students at Louisiana State University were
driven away. Davis had the university teach phony anticommunist courses
that were basically Anti-American in their content. The Commission had
paid informants who spied on Rev. Avery C. Alexander and other civil
rights advocates. Davis had the State Police lead a joint raid with the
Louisiana Committee on Un-American activities. Louisiana turned over the
papers of the Southern Conference Education Fund to the U.S. Senate
Internal Security Committee for one of the most racist hearingds in the
history of the U.S.
In addition to harsh white supremacy and state repression, incompetence
and scandal were the hallmarks of the Davis administration. (Fairclough
p.322)His cronies had interest in banks that held state moneys. He was
knee deep in a dairy scandal that cost Louisiana consumers. He built a
bridge to nowhere across the Mississippi at Donaldsonville and named it
after "Sunshine" his horse. One of the more memorable moments of his
administration was when he road "Sunshine" up the steps of the Capitol
and to his office as an act of defiance to the civil rights movement.

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