What voting qualification was used to prevent African Americans from exercising the right to vote and is now illegal?

• A. Literacy Test
• B. Grandfather Clause
• C. Poll Tax
• D. Residency Requirement

Answer: (A)

Discriminatory voting qualifications used to suppress Black voters is the idea being tested. A literacy test was deployed as a gatekeeping measure that appeared neutral but was applied in a biased way, making it far more likely that African Americans would be denied the vote while whites often passed or faced laxer scrutiny. This use of a seemingly neutral test to exclude a protected group helped maintain white political power in the Jim Crow era. Today it’s illegal because federal law and court rulings prohibit literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting in covered jurisdictions; the Voting Rights Act of 1965 specifically targeted such devices as discriminatory practices, and subsequent decisions reinforced that you cannot use tests to deny the right to vote.

The other options reflect different historical tools with separate legal histories. The grandfather clause and poll taxes were also used to curb Black suffrage, but they were struck down by the courts and constitutional amendments long ago. Residency requirements are standard qualifications and, while they must be applied neutrally, are not, by themselves, the illegal device that historically disenfranchised African Americans.