Final answer:
The literacy tests imposed on African Americans were part of a systematic effort to disenfranchise them, given that these tests were biased and Blacks had limited access to education. Only with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were these discriminatory practices outlawed, enabling African Americans to exercise their right to vote more freely.
Step-by-step explanation:
The use of literacy tests and understanding tests were notorious tools for disenfranchisement, devised to prevent African Americans from voting. These tests were intrinsically biased; voter registration officials would assign difficult texts to African Americans while providing simpler passages to white applicants to read and interpret. Given that educational opportunities were severely limited for slaves, and it was illegal to teach enslaved people to read and write in Southern states, African Americans faced significant educational disparities. This resulted in a very low literacy rate among newly freed slaves at the end of the Civil War, with only 5 percent able to read and write, with most residing in the North.
Methods like the grandfather clause were implemented to sidestep these tests for white voters, creating a system where white illiteracy did not bar one from voting, but Black literacy was a must. Due to these obstacles, African Americans' political power and right to vote were dramatically impaired. It wasn't until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that these discriminatory literacy tests were outlawed, removing barriers that had long hindered African Americans from exercising their voting rights.