SS 2600 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Voter Suppression In The United States, Early Voting, Literacy Test
Document Summary
Voting is a fundamental right in a democratic society, but for many groups throughout the history of the united states, that right has been hard-fought and often denied. From the early days of the republic, when only white male property owners were allowed to vote, to the present day, when efforts to restrict voting access are still ongoing, the struggle for voting rights in the. United states has been a long and complicated one. One of the first major efforts to expand voting rights came in the wake of the civil war, with the passage of the 15th amendment to the u. s. constitution. This amendment guaranteed that the right to vote could not be denied on the basis of race or color, giving black men the legal right to vote for the first time. However, this right was frequently denied in practice, through tactics such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and violence and intimidation by white supremacists.
