Southern states used poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses as reconstruction came to an end as a means to restrict the voting rights of African Americans. These methods were designed to prevent them from exercising their right to vote, which had been granted to them under the 15th Amendment. The poll tax required citizens to pay a fee in order to vote, which often excluded poor African Americans from voting. The literacy test required voters to pass a test in order to be eligible to vote, which was often administered unfairly, and also excluded African Americans from voting. The grandfather clause allowed only those who could prove that their ancestors had been eligible to vote before the Civil War to be exempt from the poll tax and literacy test, which made it difficult for African Americans whose ancestors had been enslaved to meet the requirement. Overall, these measures were part of a broader effort to restrict the rights of African Americans and maintain white supremacy in the South.
