Register of White Voters at Purcellville Precinct, Mt. Gilead District, Loudoun County, Virginia

Access and use

Location of collection:
Thomas Balch Library
Thomas Balch Library
208 West Market Street
Leesburg, Virginia 20176
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Alexandra S. Gressitt
Phone: (703) 737-7195
Fax: (703) 737-7195
Restrictions:

Open for research.

Terms of access:

Physical characteristics and conditions affect use of this material. Photocopying not permitted.

Preferred citation:

Register of White Voters at Purcellville Precinct, Mt. Gilead District, Loudoun County, Virginia, 1902-1921 (OM 31), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA

Summary

Extent:
1 item, less than .33 cubic ft.
Creator:
Paul McCray, Purcellville, VA
Abstract:
The collection consists of a ledger from the Purcellville Precinct in the Mt. Gilead Magisterial District, containing the names of white voters who registered from 1902 to 1921. Names of both men and women are included. The list provides date of registration, voter's name, date of birth, age, occupation, place and length of residence, poll tax exemption status, and whether the voter was transferred to or from another district.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Register of White Voters at Purcellville Precinct, Mt. Gilead District, Loudoun County, Virginia, 1902-1921 (OM 31), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of a ledger from the Purcellville Precinct in the Mt. Gilead Magisterial District, containing the names of white voters who registered from 1902 to 1921. Names of both men and women are included. The list provides date of registration, voter's name, date of birth, age, occupation, place and length of residence, poll tax exemption status, and whether the voter was transferred to or from another district.

Biographical / historical:

Following the abolishment of slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment (1866) extended citizenship to all native-born men and women and promised them equal protection under the law. However, the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) was needed in order to guarantee that no state could deny its qualifying citizens-that is, males over the age of 21- the right to vote on principle of race, color, or previous enslavement. In retaliation, many states established a poll tax with the intention of preventing poorer and newly enfranchised citizens from participating in elections. Virginia's Conservative Party amended the state constitution in 1876 to add the first state poll tax, but this provision was removed when the constitution was again amended in 1882.

In 1902, more changes to the Virginia Constitution prevented most of the state's African American men and about half of the state's white men who had voted in previous elections from exercising their rights. Beginning in 1904, new voting applicants were required to pay $1.50 in poll tax for the three years preceding an election in order to participate. All poll taxes were finally abolished in 1964, when the Twenty-Fourth Amendment made the institution illegal.

The practice of keeping separate registers for Black and White voters became a requirement in 1884 by the Virginia election boards. However, in 1920, women over the age of 21 were allowed to be added to these books-though still divided by race-when they received the right to vote through the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. In Richmond, some 13,000 women were registering by October of the same year, but Virginia itself did not ratify the amendment until 1952.

Acquisition information:
Paul McCray, Purcellville, VA
Processing information:

Processed by Caroline Kessler, 2016

Accruals:

2016.0084

Physical / technical requirements:

None