They made literacy tests an easy way to prevent freed slaves from voting.
They made literacy tests an easy way to prevent freed slaves from voting...apex
The South resisted reconstruction by passing special laws, like the Black Codes and the Jim Crow laws, in order to keep blacks down in a status practically the same as slavery. Blacks were supposedly free due to the 13th amendment, but they still had no rights, and were being forced to work under stiff work contracts. The Ku Klux Klan also emerged in the South specifically to keep blacks down and uphold white supremacy. Yet another thing that was done was that Southerners charged poll taxes, and had literacy tests as requirements to vote, knowing that most blacks at that time had neither the money to do so, or the ability to read.
The "franchise" is the right to vote; to "disenfranchise" means to deny someone the right to vote. In the south after the war, during reconstruction, white men generally were not allowed to vote, and the freed slaves were allowed to vote. As soon as reconstruction was over whites regained political power and though various laws (poll taxes, literacy tests) again disenfranchised the blacks. (No women could vote until 1920).
There were many examples of disenfranchisement and restrictions placed on African-Americans after the Reconstruction. These included poll taxes, educational requirements, grandfather clauses, the Eight Box Law in South Carolina, property requirements, Jim Crow laws, and White Primaries.
Jim Crow Laws
Jim Crow laws segregated, poll tax and literacy tests prevented most freed slaves from voting, because one of the amendments said voting can not be prevented because of skin color, it was too specific.
The most direct effect of poll taxes and literacy tests on African Americans was to prevent them from voting. Poll taxes were part of Jim Crow laws.
Former Confederate states passed many laws with the goal of keeping African Americans from voting. These included the poll taxes and other illegal methods.
The African Americans were kept from voting with poll taxes, which meant they had to pay to vote and literacy tests where if they failed them they couldn't vote, and since many at the time were illiterate and poor they couldn't vote. Also fear played a factor the Ku Klux Klan would threaten them to keep them away from the polls.
Many of the so-called Jim Crow laws were examples of voter discrimination. They included poll taxes, literacy tests, and other ways to prevent minorities from voting.
They authorized Jim Crow Laws that limited segregated freedmen (former slaves) from whites. Also, the made black codes that made blacks act a certain way. They made poll taxes and literacy test to stop blacks from voting.
Poll taxes and Literacy laws were two of the primary ways that some states kept minorities from voting. Poll taxes were set to a point that would not be difficult for White people to afford, but Very difficult for Minorities. White voters would be given something simple to read, and minorities would be given bits of Shakespeare. Many states removed them voluntarily as they saw the way the mood of the country was moving, and as State Legislatures became more enlightened. However, for those states that did not, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended the practices everywhere for good. The Twenty Fourth Amendment, ratified in 1964, outlawed poll taxes. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was the law that outlawed literacy tests.
Some southern states also passed laws that required literacy tests in order to vote. Since former slaves were not given proper educations before the Civil War and many of them were unable to read, this law was another attempt to prevent African Americans from voting. The literacy tests and poll taxes were often used together.
They were all different laws introduced to continue opressing the black people, not letting them vote, even though officially there was equality.
They were all different laws introduced to continue opressing the black people, not letting them vote, even though officially there was equality.
If you are asking how voter suppression was carried out then I can provide an answer. The Jim Crow laws that were passed allowed for poll taxes, literacy tests, trick questions, registration systems, and white only primaries.