Yet in some sections the odds were too great, or else the whites lacked the resolution to carry out such extensive informal disfranchisement.

For years North and South Carolina each sent at least one negro member to the House of Representatives and, but for flagrant gerrymandering, might have sent more.

Indeed negro prosecuting attorneys were not unknown, and many of the black counties had negro officers.

Some States, such as North Carolina, gave up local self-government almost entirely.

The Legislature appointed the justices of the peace in every county, and these elected both the commissioners who controlled the finances of the county and also the board of education which appointed the school committeemen.