Voting Restrictions

-In many southern communities,whites were concerned that if African Americans were allowed to vote, they would gain too much political power.
-In the 1890s southern states began using tactics to deny the vote to blacks.
-Poll tax was one of these tactics. Poll tax was a special fee that must be paid before a person was permitted to vote.
-Another tactic was literacy tests. Voters had to pass a literacy test in order to vote. The test showed that a person could read, write, and meet minimum standards of knowledge. The test were designed for blacks, and the blacks tests were harder than the whites.