The Negro does ask, however, that since he is taxed, works the roads, is punished for crimes, is called upon to defend his country, that he have some humble share in choosing who will rule over him, especially when he has proven his worthiness by becoming a taxpayer and a worthy reliable citizen.

The quote above is from a letter Booker T. Washington, founder and president of Tuskegee Institute, wrote to the delegates of Alabama's 1901 Constitutional Convention.  The delegates had gathered to write a new Constitution for the State of Alabama, and their motive was to enshrine white supremacy into the law of the land and strip African Americans of rights and privileges they had gained in the years after the Union victory in the Civil War ended slavery. 

John B. Knox, convention president, declared in his opening speech, “And what is it we want to do?... it is within the limits imposed by the Federal Constitution to establish white supremacy in this State.” 

The 155 white male delegates to the constitutional convention ignored Washington's eloquent plea for consideration and inclusion, and drafted a Jim Crow Constitution full of obstacles to equal participation in society, voting, and politics. 

Read Booker T. Washington's full letter at the Alabama Department of Archives and History.