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After slavery was ended in the United States and African Americans were to be considered full citizens, many states in the South implemented voting laws that were meant to block African Americans from actual voting access. One of these measures compelled voters to prove to voting authorities that they could read and write in English. The black community had less access to education than whites even after slavery was ended; thus their literacy rates were lower. The authorities (who were white) administering the tests also were known to be biased in whether they considered a person to have passed the tests or not.
Poll taxes were another measure used to block the black vote. African Americans experienced much poverty because of prejudice against them in the economic system of the country, so poll taxes could keep them from going to the polls to vote.
"Grandfather clauses" were also implemented, which were exemptions granted to those whose forefathers ("grandfathers") had full voting rights prior to the Civil War. That way, if there were poor or illiterate whites, they could vote freely while blacks (whose ancestors had been slaves) were subjected to the laws restricting their voting ability.
These sorts of restrictions against black voters prompted much of the activism of the civil rights movement that began in the middle of the 20th century.
