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Jim Crow Laws
The Jim Crow Laws were followed mainly by southern states. They came from the Black Codes which was enforced before the Civil War. The Jim Crow Laws, although slavery had been outlawed and blacks could vote, found a way to keep whites and blacks segregation, An example of the laws is a poll tax. When someone went to go vote they had to pay a tax. This prevented African Americans from voting. -
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Federal Government
The Federal Government almost completley ignored these poll taxes during this time frame. The issue was brought up in the supreme court case Breedlove v. Suttles. -
Southern Poll Tax
All eleven former Confederate states had established a poll tax. This poll tax made everyone pay a fee to vote. They also used other things to try and keep blacks from voting such as a literacy test. -
Breedlove v. Suttles
In the Supreme Court case Breedlove v. Suttles, the court upheld the Georgia law of having a poll tax. The court ruled that Georgia was not trying to keep the man from voting. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt
FDR spoke out against poll tax and was against it for the most part. He then realized that he would need southern Democrat votes to pass New Deal programs. He backed off pushing for no poll tax, because he didn't want to irritate them. -
Smith v. Allwright
It banned the "White Primary". It said that it was in violation of the 15th Amendment, which gave the right to vote to all races. -
President's Committee on Civil Rights
Harry S. Truman set up this committee to make sure the citizens' rights were protected. One of the issues brought up in this committee was poll taxes. -
John F. Kennedy
JFK was elected to office. He brought back the issue of poll taxes and believed the only way to get rid of them was through a constitutional amendment. -
Proposed Amendment
Congress officially proposed the 24th Amendment. It was then sent to the states to be ratified after a two-thirds majority in both the House and the Senate. -
24th Amendment is Ratified
Thirty-eight states had ratified the 24th Amendment. This amendment banned poll taxes and made them unconstitutional.
