The Unraveling of a Democratic Facade: How and When Literacy Tests Were Banned
At the heart of any thriving democracy lies the sacred principle of political equality—the idea that every citizen’s voice carries equal weight at the ballot box. For nearly a century following the Civil War, however, a insidious and seemingly neutral tool systematically shredded this principle for millions of Americans, particularly Black citizens in the South. Literacy tests were not merely quizzes on reading comprehension; they were arbitrary, discriminatory gatekeepers designed to uphold
