Question

Read the following excerpt from the Civil Rights Act of 1964. No person acting under any color of law may employ any literacy test as a qualification for voting in any Federal election unless such test is administered to each individual and is conducted wholly in writing… Which of the following conclusions can be drawn based on this excerpt? States were giving literacy tests to some voters to keep them from qualifying to vote. States were requiring all voters to take an oral literacy test in order to vote in a federal election. Illiteracy was a big problem in the United States in the 1960s. Most African-American voters could not read.

Answer 1

The answer is:

States were giving literacy tests to some voters to keep them from qualifying to vote.

*This was because they knew that most African Americans were not going to be able to pass the test.

Answer 2

The correct answer is states were giving literacy tests to some voters to keep them from qualifying to vote.

The literacy tests implemented, especially in Southern states, were a tactic used by white Southerners to stop African Americans from voting. These tests were usually extremely difficult to pass. Along with this, the origins of these tests show why they were targeted at African Americans.

After African Americans were able to vote thanks to the 15th amendment, many Southern states created literacy tests. The Southern governments knew that a vast majority of African Americans would not pass, since many states made it illegal to teach blacks how to read.