To expand on your point, calling Mississippi circa 1950 "democratic" is, while not technically wrong, extremely misleading. Systematically denying the less pri

To expand on your point, calling Mississippi circa 1950 "democratic" is, while not technically wrong, extremely misleading. Systematically denying the less privileged half the population access to the vote, both by legal means and by extralegal coercion up to and including murder, does not generally lead to what we now consider to be democratically elected governments. The "tyranny of the majority" can be as harsh as the tyranny of any single strongman, but it's important to note how closely that process is tied to systematically de-legitimizing other voices and perspectives.