Malcolm Rivera
The Fifteenth Amendment to the US Constitution removed racial barriers to voting in 1870. However, states continued to discriminate against Black voters, using literacy tests as a tool to disenfranchise African Americans in the Southern United States. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed, outlawing discriminatory voting practices, including literacy tests, and enforcing the right of citizens to vote regardless of race or color, as outlined in the Fifteenth Amendment. This act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson, was a significant step towards ensuring that no federal, state, or local government could impede people's ability to vote based on race or ethnicity.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name of the Amendment | The Fifteenth Amendment |
| Year of Ratification | 1870 |
| What it removed | Racial barriers to voting |
| Year of enforcement | 1965 |
| Voting Rights Act of 1965 | Outlawed discriminatory voting practices, including literacy tests |
| Section 4(e) of the Voting Rights Act | Prohibits states from requiring literacy tests in the English language as a voter qualification if the applicant is literate in another language |
| Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act | Applied a nationwide prohibition of the denial or abridgment of the right to vote on account of race or color |
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What You'll Learn
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Act was designed to enforce the voting rights of racial minorities, especially in the South, where African Americans faced tremendous obstacles to voting. It sought to ensure that no federal, state, or local government could impede a person's right to vote based on race or ethnicity. The Act had an immediate impact, and by the end of 1965, a quarter of a million new Black voters had been registered, with significant increases in voter registration among African Americans in the South by the end of 1966.
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The Fifteenth Amendment
> The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment and abolish discriminatory voting practices, including literacy tests. The Act suspended literacy tests in jurisdictions with less than 50% of voting-age residents registered as of November 1, 1964, or who had voted in the 1964 presidential election. Congress amended the Act in 1970 to expand the ban on literacy tests nationwide.
The Supreme Court upheld the ban on literacy tests as constitutional in Oregon v. Mitchell (1970) for federal elections. However, the Court was deeply divided, and the majority did not agree on a clear rationale for the decision. The Fifteenth Amendment and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were significant milestones in the fight for voting rights and racial equality in the United States.
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The Fourteenth Amendment
In the context of literacy tests, there has been legal debate about whether the Fourteenth Amendment grants Congress the authority to prohibit them. The Supreme Court addressed this issue in the case of Lassiter v. Northampton County Board of Elections in 1959. The Court held that literacy tests did not inherently violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment or the Fifteenth Amendment. This decision affirmed that literacy tests, in isolation, were not unconstitutional and could be used as a voting prerequisite.
However, in the case of Morgan, the Court introduced a nuanced interpretation. It asserted that Congress possesses the power to enforce Fourteenth Amendment rights and can prohibit any conduct that interferes with those rights, even if such conduct is not independently deemed unconstitutional. This ruling provided a legal basis for Congress to act against literacy tests, despite the earlier Lassiter decision.
Subsequently, in 1965, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, which included a provision aimed at securing the rights of individuals educated in American-flag schools where the primary language of instruction was not English. This provision, found in Section 4(e) of the Act, explicitly prohibited states from requiring literacy tests in English as a voter qualification if the applicant was literate in another language learned in one of these schools. This was a significant step towards ensuring voting rights for individuals facing language barriers.
In summary, while the Fourteenth Amendment does not directly abolish literacy tests, it sets forth principles of equal protection and empowers Congress to safeguard voting rights. Through judicial interpretations and legislative actions, the Fourteenth Amendment has played a crucial role in challenging discriminatory voting practices, including literacy tests, and expanding voting rights to individuals from diverse linguistic backgrounds.
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The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Act prohibited segregation in businesses such as theatres, restaurants, and hotels, banned discriminatory practices in employment, and ended segregation in public places, including swimming pools, libraries, and public schools. It also made it illegal to unequally apply voter registration requirements.
The Act was a significant step forward in ensuring equal rights for all Americans, and its passage was a testament to the efforts of President Johnson, Senator Hubert Humphrey, and other supporters.
It is important to note that while the Civil Rights Act of 1964 addressed some aspects of voting rights, it did not explicitly abolish literacy tests as a voting requirement. That specific change came with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which explicitly outlawed literacy tests and other discriminatory voting practices.
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Literacy tests in Alabama
Literacy tests were used in the United States between the 1850s and 1960s as a tool to disenfranchise African Americans in the South. The first formal voter literacy tests were introduced in 1890, with the explicit goal of restricting the influx of "new" immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. While these tests were ostensibly about literacy, they were, in practice, applied arbitrarily based on race. White applicants were often exempted from the tests if they met alternate requirements, such as a "good moral character" clause, which was rarely applied to Black applicants. In addition, illiterate whites were often allowed to vote without taking the tests due to grandfather clauses written into the legislation.
Alabama was one of the states that implemented literacy tests as a prerequisite for voting. In Davis v. Schnell (1949), the Court affirmed the striking down of a literacy test in Alabama's constitutional amendment, as its legislative history disclosed that it intended to disenfranchise Black voters in violation of the Fifteenth Amendment. Despite this ruling, Alabama continued to employ literacy tests, and African Americans in the state faced tremendous obstacles to voting, including not just literacy tests but also poll taxes, bureaucratic restrictions, harassment, intimidation, economic reprisals, and physical violence.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson, finally outlawed literacy tests and other discriminatory voting practices in Alabama and other southern states. The Act enforced the Fifteenth Amendment, which states that the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state based on race, color, or previous conditions of servitude. While the Act initially only suspended literacy tests in jurisdictions with less than 50% of voting-age residents registered as of November 1, 1964, or who had voted in the 1964 presidential election, Congress amended the Act in 1970 to expand the ban on literacy tests nationwide.
The implementation of literacy tests in Alabama and other states was a blatant violation of the Fifteenth Amendment and a stark example of the lengths to which some went to disenfranchise African American voters. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a significant step forward in ensuring that all citizens, regardless of race, had the right to vote.
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Frequently asked questions
The 15th Amendment to the Constitution removed racial barriers to voting in 1870. However, states continued to discriminate against Black voters and deny them the right to vote. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed to enforce the 15th Amendment and abolish literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.
The 15th Amendment asserted that the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State based on race, color, or previous conditions of servitude. While the amendment removed racial barriers to voting, literacy tests were still used as a tool to disenfranchise African Americans.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 explicitly outlawed literacy tests and other discriminatory voting practices. It prohibited states from imposing voting qualifications or prerequisites that would deny or abridge the right to vote based on race or color. The Act also appointed federal examiners to register qualified citizens to vote in covered jurisdictions.
