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Poll Taxes Began
Poll Taxes began in the 1890s as a legal way to African Americans from voting in the Southern States Poll Taxes were essentially a voting fee -
Poll Taxes in the Confederacy
It took a lot of work to make poll taxes mandatory in the 1890s. By 1902, all Confederate States had poll taxes issued. To make matters worse for the poor, they added other requirements, such as literacy tests and voter assessments, to ensure they were denied the right to vote. -
Breedlove v. Suttles
Breedlove, a white male, 28 years of age, declined to pay the tax and was not allowed to register to vote. He filed a lawsuit challenging Georgia law under the Fourteenth and the Nineteenth Amendment. Suttles was officially named defendant in the case as a Fulton County, Georgia, tax collector. Associate Justice Pierce Butler delivered the court's opinion, which unanimously upheld the Georgia law. -
Movement to Eliminate
There was a movement that had begun in Congress to eliminate poll tax as a voting qualification in federal elections by the 1940s. Nothing significant was done until later on. -
Butler v. Thompson
This was an action by Butler against Thompson, to recover damages for not accepting a quantity of iron under an alleged contract of purchase. Upon the trial, the jury rendered a verdict against Thompson of $5,066.17 'in gold;' but, before judgment, Butler remitted $66.17, and judgment was entered Nov. -
JFK takes office
John F. Kennedy was elected into office as the new President of the United States. Prior to his election, there was a dispute about making the ban on poll taxes a bill instead of an amendment. Kennedy decided that it should be an amendment, not just a bill. -
The discontinuing of poll taxes
In 1962, all of the states, but 5, abandoned the poll tax. The remaining states that still had poll tax in effect were Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia. However, even these states were beginning to be more lenient. -
Proposal of the 24th Amendment
On August 27th, 1962, Congress proposed banning all poll taxes. Three-fourths of the states would need to ratify to make the 24th Amendment official -
MLKJ Speaks Out
Reverend Martin Luther King Junior wrote to a local newspaper in 1963, speaking out against poll taxes. "The poll tax is a great evil, for it puts a price tag on freedom," this got the attention of many people who took quick action by protesting, rioting, petitioning, and proving the poll tax to be unconstitutional. -
The Abolishing of the Poll Taxes
Amendment 24 of the Constitution was ratified. It abolished and forbade the federal and state governments from imposing taxes on voters during federal elections. -
Voting Rights Act
This act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on August 6, 1965. It outlawed the unjust voting practices embraced in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as an essential to voting.