Paving the way for Black Voters. [Part One]
History of Voter Suppression:
Voting has historically been more difficult for African Americans than for other groups. African Americans and other minorities have long been discouraged from voting by using voter suppression as a tactic. Georgia has a long history of habitually denying African American people the right to vote, suppressing the black voice.
Let’s be clear: Voter suppression is real. From
making it harder to register and stay on the rolls to
moving and closing polling places to rejecting
lawful ballots, we can no longer ignore these
threats to democracy.
— Stacey Abrams, 2019
Political science professor at Savannah State University, Geoffrey Bowden, remembers the history of voting in this nation and the exclusion of Black voters from elections.
“The promise of democracy has been held out for a long time as the way to make real change in American society. The promise of democracy primarily has been held out through the vote”. Bowden said.
Before passage of the Voting Rights Act, an estimated 23 percent of eligible Black voters were registered nationwide. While at the polls, prospective voters from African American communities encountered literacy tests and poll taxes.
You had to pass a literacy test or pay a tax in order to vote. This specifically targeted African Americans because many of them lacked the resources to pay the taxes and excluded those who were illiterate.
According to Savannah State political science professor Marion Bell, “There’s been rules on the books that were put there to intentionally keep black people from voting. And this is not long ago, where there was, there were legal ramifications and setbacks for black people who tried to vote. Now today, there’s this big debate between the two parties about increasing voter turnout or keeping people away from the polls. When I when I talk to students, I tell them, You’re either increasing access to voting, or you’re keeping people from voting, making it harder to people, making it harder for people to vote.”
Voter suppression is deliberately targeting many African American voters, which is a serious issue.
“Historically, in this country, and still, on August 2 of 2022, Black voters are a large voting block who tend to be pushed away from the polls, by stuff that is still on the books and other things parties make it more difficult for them to vote. If you really want to vote you can do that in this country, but to say that, as a local, state or federal level that we do everything we can to get everyone access and to attempt to increase turnout, that’s simply not happening. Anything from ballot boxes to fill in voting, you’ll hear a lot about fraud. The voter fraud that has occurred at the national level in the last three major midterm elections from the US presidency, it’s just minuscule. So, when you do research and look at where the ballot boxes and where they disappeared, it tends to be more where minorities are” reported Bell.
A few states passed legislation granting men the right to vote if they exercised it prior to the granting of the vote to African Americans or if they are the descendants of voters. This was called the grandfather clause.
The use of poll taxes was not prohibited until the 24th Amendment was ratified in 1964. It has only been 58 years since the use was prohibited.
The initial United States Constitution did not specify citizens’ voting rights, and until 1870, only white men were permitted to cast ballots. The sixteenth and nineteenth amendments to the constitution rectified that.
Slavery is not abolished until the Black man has
the ballot,
On February 3, 1870, the United States Constitution’s fifteenth amendment was approved. It was a turning point for civil rights.