Final answer:
The Grandfather Clauses revealed the discriminatory motives behind literacy test requirements by exempting many white voters from these tests, while African Americans were still disenfranchised.
Step-by-step explanation:
The establishment of Grandfather Clauses in various Southern states demonstrated a clear intent to circumvent the 15th Amendment by allowing illiterate white voters to bypass literacy tests that were supposed to apply to all. The devices used to disenfranchise African Americans were constructed in such a way that they did not infringe upon the voting rights of many whites. Literacy tests and understanding tests, ostensibly neutral at face value, were applied in a discriminatory manner. Illiterate whites could vote because their ancestors, who were eligible to vote before the Civil War and the ratification of the 15th Amendment, were not subject to such tests. By creating these exceptions, states could claim they were applying laws equally, while in practice maintaining a racially discriminatory voting system.
Literacy tests were long and detailed exams that were part of a broader system of disenfranchisement which also included poll taxes and Jim Crow laws. African Americans were disproportionately subjected to these hurdles when attempting to vote. Therefore, the use of Grandfather Clauses called into question the motives of states by showing that the literacy test requirements were not about maintaining an informed electorate, but rather about disenfranchising Black voters.