How were some blacks able to vote in Jim Crow South?

[Fuzzy Bear]

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.

Memphis, of course, was different.  Outside of the big three (3) Texas cities (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio), Memphis, TN was the largest city in the South in 1950.  Rounding up and controlling a large black bloc vote was all in a day's work for Boss Crump. 

Crump was not a racial liberal.  He was generally considered the leader of the more conservative faction of TN's Democrats.  Estes Kefauver and Al Gore, Sr. were not considered to be Crump men, nor was Gov. Gordon Browning in 1948.  Crump was also supportive of the Dixiecrats to the extent that he wanted TN's electors in 1948 to be named for Thurmond and Wright.  (Crump supported Truman in the end from what I can tell, but he certainly advocated for the Dixiecrats prior to TN naming its electors.)