Literacy test
A literacy test ( corresponding translation from English: Reading and Writing Test) is related to the political history of the United States an opportunity to be intended to exclude African American elections and so they discriminate in their right to vote. This practice has been applied mainly in the southern states, in which the ideas of White Supremacy were widespread.
Only black voters - at the beginning of the practice of literacy tests mostly former slaves, who could not read and write - had prior to the elections in the presence of an official of their ability to read, to prove. Most them a complicated passage of a state constitution was submitted by a white registrars, who should read it and tell. Furthermore, African Americans had to answer " satisfaction of the registrars to the fullest " a whole catalog of questions. The white registrars were required to exclude the blacks in all circumstances of the election and since the term " to the fullest satisfaction of the registrars ' was stretchy, they always found some reason to claim that the voters have given inadequate answers. In many cases, a reason given for the rejection not even. The first laws to the literacy tests were introduced in 1890. Whites were exempted from these tests what is legally justified with the grandfather rights.
The grandfather rights have been declared by the United States Supreme Court decision in Guinn v. United States ( 1915) unconstitutional. Despite this, was this practice continued examples of the questions that blacks were asked in Alabama were: The names of all sixty-seven county judges in the state, naming the day on which Oklahoma was admitted to the Union, and the question of how many bubbles in a bar of soap were.
The 14th Amendment states threatened, the adult males of the election ( whether through literacy tests or by other means) to exclude the pro rata reduction of its representation in Congress, but this provision has never been enforced. In 1959, noted the U.S. Supreme Court that the literacy tests are not necessarily violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th and 15th supplementary article represented ( Lassiter v. Northampton Election Committee (1959 ) ). In the 1960s, the Southern States managed the literacy tests from only under pressure. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 abolished the literacy tests de facto. They have been applied only to persons who were not proficient in English language.
Other ways of discrimination were poll taxes or other intimidation measures taken by the administration.