Alabama Literacy Test, circa mid-1960s

Item

Title: Alabama Literacy Test, circa mid-1960s
Alternative Title: Citizenship School Teaching Resource
Description: Before the Voting Rights Act banned literacy tests, southern states used them to prevent Black citizens from voting. Alabama required people registering to vote to recite a section from the state’s Constitution and answer several written questions. The use of literacy tests was based on the discretion of local officials, so most white citizens did not take literacy tests, and if they did, their tests were often easier. In an effort to combat this discrimination, civil rights activists formed Citizenship Schools to teach Black adults how to fill out registration forms and pass the literacy test. A Citizenship School developed this worksheet to prepare Black people for what they would face on the test by providing sample questions and answers, highlighting the fact that literacy tests included overly complicated and subjective civics questions.
Creator: Citizenship School See all items with this value
Publisher: Civil Rights Movement Veterans
Date: 1960s See all items with this value
Type: Educational resource
Format: Typewritten. B&W. 4 pages. PDF file.
Language: English
Subject: Literacy test See all items with this value; Voter registration See all items with this value; Voter suppression See all items with this value; Voting rights See all items with this value; Citizenship school See all items with this value; Alabama See all items with this value; Voting Rights Act See all items with this value
Place: Alabama
Temporal Coverage: 1950s-1960s
Rights Holder: Civil Rights Movement Veterans. https://www.crmvet.org/
Rights: Used in accordance with the Fair Use provision of the Copyright Act

Item sets: Modern Voting Rights

Site pages: Brass Tactics: Suppressing, Protecting, and Expanding the Right to Vote

Media: https://www.crmvet.org/info/litques.pdf