The issue of Negroes voting in the Florida primaries began to dominate the news headlines during WWII. The main issue concerning Negroes voting in Florida was the primaries. The current laws supported a “white only” primary in direct conflict with the 15th Amendment of the Constitution. Previous US Supreme Court rulings held that Congress could not regulate a state’s primary election. In 1944, as American forces were gaining their military momentum in the Pacific and the European Theaters, the high court in the case Smith vs. Allwright, finally declared white only primaries as unconstitutional. In the Florida Supreme Court 1945 case of Davis vs Cromwell, the state’s white only practice was also declared unconstitutional. Below are two articles from the Pensacola News Journal that headlined the struggle for voting rights during this period of time.
Pensacola News Journal 1-10-1945
Pensacola News Journal 3-19-1945