Before federal protections, which practices were used to prevent African Americans from voting?

• A. Poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses
• B. Poll taxes and literacy tests
• C. Literacy tests only
• D. Grandfather clauses only

Answer: (D)

A key idea here is how voting rights were restricted through legal means before federal protections. The grandfather clause is a specific device that illustrates a targeted way to bar African Americans from voting while allowing many white voters to stay eligible. It said you could vote if your grandfather had the right to vote before a certain date, which effectively excluded most Black citizens, whose grandfathers had been enslaved and could not vote. This created a loophole that preserved white political power even as other barriers existed. Poll taxes and literacy tests were also used to disenfranchise, but the grandfather clause stands out as a direct, ancestry-based restriction that neatly demonstrates how such tactics worked to suppress Black voting prior to federal enforcement.