Challenge to grandfather clause, 1915

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution (1868) granted citizenship to formerly enslaved Americans, and the 15th Amendment (1870) established a constitutional right to vote for African American males. Despite these new amendments, when Reconstruction ended in 1877, states across the South and elsewhere in the U.S. implemented various laws to restrict the voting rights of Black citizens.

“Grandfather clauses” were one tool that states used. For example, Oklahoma passed a constitutional amendment in 1910 that stated only citizens whose grandfathers had voted in 1865 could vote. This disqualified the descendants of formerly enslaved people.

Around this same time, activists who believed in the need to protect and expand rights for African Americans formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). One of the strategies that the NAACP used to secure equal rights was through legal action.

The NAACP was able to persuade the United States attorney general to challenge the “grandfather clause” in the Oklahoma constitution as a violation of the 15th Amendment. The state of Oklahoma appealed to the Supreme Court. Moorfield Storey, the first president of the NAACP, filed an amicus brief supporting the U.S. government’s position that the Oklahoma law was unconstitutional.

This article was written after the Supreme Court’s ruling. It was printed in the Tulsa Daily World, a newspaper that was published in Tulsa, Oklahoma from 1905 – 1915.

Source Analysis

• Examine the headline and sub headlines of the article. What stands out and why?
• According to this article, how does the state of Oklahoma plan to respond to the Court’s ruling? What quotes or information in the article give evidence to their plan?
• How might the focus or content of this article be different if it were published in a different state? Why?
• What can this article tell you about protecting the right to vote?

Challenge to all white primary, 1931

In the early 1920s, The Texas legislature passed a law that prohibited African Americans from voting in the Democratic Party primary. In many states across the South at that time, including Texas, the Democratic Party was the only major political party.

Lawyers working with the NAACP challenged the Texas law, arguing that their client, Dr. Lawrence A. Nixon, was denied a meaningful choice in an election because of the Texas law. The case went to the Supreme Court. The Court decided in Nixon’s favor. However, the Texas Legislature found a way around the court’s decision.

This article from the Associated Press reports on how and why Dr. Nixon was involved in another case before the Supreme Court.

Source Analysis

• Take a moment to examine the page on which this article appears. What do you notice about its location?
• According to this article, how did the Texas legislature respond to the Supreme Court’s decision? How are other areas of government, state and federal, responding?
• What can this article tell you about individual and groups can protect, or deny, a right to vote? What stands out or is surprising?
• How might the content or focus of this article be different if it was published in Texas in 1931? Why?

Enforcing court decisions, 1944

Despite securing wins for voting rights in the courts, enforcing the Court’s decisions was a major challenge. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) called on the federal government to mandate that states follow the court’s rulings on the right of Black Americans to have equal access to the vote.

This article was published in the Arkansas State Press, a Black-owned newspaper. Founded by Christopher (L.C.) Bates, the State Press was a weekly newspaper that gave particular attention to civil rights issues impacting Black Arkansans.

Source Analysis

• What do you notice about the page that this article appears on? What other stories are featured?
• What claims about voting rights are made in this article? What evidence is provided to support the claims?
• What perspectives or point of view are prominent in this article? How does that influence how you think about the issue of voting rights for African Americans?

Notes from Rosa Parks

In order to cast a vote in an election, first the voter must register to vote. During the Jim Crow era between Reconstruction and the civil rights legislation of the 1960s, many African Americans who attempted to register to vote were threatened physically or made to fear losing their jobs and homes. In addition, states had different rules about what requirements were necessary to register to vote. Some states’ requirements, including owning property, paying poll taxes, and passing literacy or civics exams, were used to prevent Black citizens from voting.

These notes written by Rosa Parks highlight the persistent challenges African Americans faced when trying to register to vote. The papers of Rosa Parks document many aspects of Parks’ private life and public activism on behalf of civil rights for African Americans.

Source Analysis

• What does Rosa Parks mean by saying that living in the Deep South was “like walking a tightrope”?
• In what ways does seeing Rosa Parks’ handwriting, including her edits, make an impression that reading a secondary account might not?

President Johnson Go to Selma, 1965

Securing a safe and legal right to vote for African Americans was a major goal of the civil rights movement. Volunteers and leaders in the movement waged various campaigns to register Black voters across the South. In early 1965, several civil rights organizations, including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Dallas County Voters League (DCVL), led a campaign to secure the right to vote in Selma, Alabama. This campaign was met with fierce resistance and, later, with violence by white city officials and community members.

Coverage of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage across the nation. This photograph by Stanley Wolfson, a staff photographer for the World Telegram and Sun, shows a Black man carrying a child on his shoulders with a placard telling President Johnson to go to Selma, Alabama. The photograph was taken in New York City in March of 1965, during the crisis in Selma.

Source Analysis

• Examine the photograph. What objects, people, and words can you see? What most stands out or catches your attention? Why?
• Consider that this photograph was taken in New York City, far away from the marches in Selma, Alabama. What can this tell you about the significance of the marches, and attacks on the marchers?
• If this photograph was taken today, what would be different? What might be the same?
• How can photographs be a unique tool for bringing about attention to and action on an issue?

Interview, Maria Varela

In response to, and because of, pressure from the campaign in Selma, Alabama, President Lyndon Johnson addressed Congress to urge the passage of a voting rights bill. After debate in both the House and the Senate, the bill became a law in August 1965. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 provided federal enforcement to remove literacy tests and other tools used to prevent African Americans from voting. Under the law, federal officials were appointed to register voters and observe elections. It also prevented states from changing requirements to vote or the boundaries of voting districts without federal review.

The poll tax was fully banned by a constitutional amendment in 1966.

In this oral history interview activist Maria Varela, a photographer with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), talks about the work that was still needed to fully support voting rights, even after the passage of the 1965 bill (go to 44:45 - 46:10).

Source Analysis

• What can Maria Varela’s interview tell us about how voting rights were secured, even after important legislation went into effect? Why does that matter to understanding how African Americans affirmed and protected?
• According to Ms. Varela, how were youth or students involved in protecting the right to vote? Why might students be so active on the issue?
• How does an interview like this, a first-hand account from the time, help inform an understanding of the actions involved in affirming and protecting the right to vote? How is it different than a textbook or other secondary source?
• What new questions about voting rights and other civil rights reforms does this interview raise?

45th Anniversary of march to Selma, 2010

Anniversaries of the Selma marches for voting rights have served as a call for continued action on and education about voting rights. Marches commemorating those who worked for voting rights reform – including well-known civil rights leaders and the work of less-known or unknown heroes – have continued to bring attention to the history of securing voting rights in the United States.

This photograph, taken by photographer Carol Highsmith, shows a march commemorating the 45th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. For this anniversary of the 1965 civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, Jesse Jackson, Winnie Mandela and other dignitaries walked across Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge to recreate a landmark moment from the event.

Source Analysis

• Closely observe the photograph. What do you notice? What stands out the most and why?
• How do the signs that marchers are holding contribute to your understanding of the image?
• How can public events such as this march inform the public about voting rights, both historically and today? What other ways can people learn about this history as well as new challenges associated with voting rights?

Proposed amendment to 1965 Voting Rights Act, 2020

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been amended on several occasions since its passage. This 2020 proposal was named for Congressman John Lewis who, as a student leader in the civil rights movement, helped to organize and lead the Selma marches. Congressman Lewis remained committed to securing and protecting the right to vote for all Americans. Congress.gov holds current and past legislation, giving public access to legislative data. In addition to the text of a bill, readers can also find information such as actions taken, amendments offered, and related bills.

Source Analysis

• Find the summary of the 2020 John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. By reading the summary, what can you learn about the goal of the legislation?
• The 116th Congress ended in December 2020. Every two years, at the conclusion of each Congress, the table of bills starts over. Knowing this, as well as information available on Congress.gov, what can you infer about the status of the bill?
• What can we learn from this bill about the efforts to affirm and protect voting rights for African Americans?

Forming Conclusions: African American Suffrage

Think about the sources you examined in this section.

• What patterns did you notice about how African Americans have reaffirmed and protected their constitutional right to vote?
• How did the sources you study support or challenge what you already understood about African American voting rights?
• Based on the sources you reviewed, what conclusions can you make about how African Americans have reaffirmed and protected their constitutional right to vote? What new questions do you have?