In Memphis, TN, blacks had a long history of voting on Primary and Election Day.
Ed Crump, the political boss of Shelby County, TN (and one of the biggest power brokers in the entire state of TN) routinely turned out black voters in high numbers. Now these black voters were controlled by Crump and voted for the Crump slate of candidates. The Crump machine paid their poll taxes. Crump's operatives would get their black voters to the poll and reward them for voting with a Barbecue Sandwich and a Coca Cola. Machine politics at its finest.
Despite machine corruption, I wish we had more Southern Dems like Crump during that era.
