LibGuides: Systemic Racism: Voter Suppression

Voter Suppression

A GAP BETWEEN THE VOTING RIGHTS PROTECTIONS PROMISED AND THE REALITY EXPERIENCED BY BLACK AMERICANS AT THE POLLS.

Despite Constitutional amendments and civil rights laws intended to protect voting rights, Black Americans have faced persistent barriers at the ballot box. The 15th Amendment ratified in 1870 prohibited denying voting rights based on race, yet Southern states responded with discriminatory Jim Crow laws imposing unfair obstacles like poll taxes and literacy tests to stop Black citizens from voting. This suppressed the Black vote for decades.

Later, while the 1965 Voting Rights Act outlawed many racist voting practices, more subtle tactics emerged like gerrymandering and voter ID laws to obstruct Black access to the polls. Recent Supreme Court rulings have also weakened VRA protections. As a result, Black voters still face disproportionate barriers today - from discriminatory ID requirements, to voter roll purges, limits on early voting, and polling place closures in Black neighborhoods. These ongoing suppression efforts have directly contributed to the underrepresentation of Black people in elected offices, despite their significant share of the population.

Key Terms

GERRYMANDERING - Manipulative drawing of electoral district boundaries with the intention of giving one political party an advantage over others. This maneuver is employed to secure a political edge for a specific party or faction by weakening the voting influence of their adversaries.

JIM CROW LAWS - Laws enacted across the South following Reconstruction sought to systematically disenfranchise and segregate African American citizens through discriminatory policies and practices.

VOTER ID LAWS - Laws mandating voters show identification documents in order to register, obtain a ballot, or cast a vote in elections.

VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965 - A law allowing the federal government to broaden its influence and control to facilitate greater Black voter registration and engagement in states where African Americans faced systemic discrimination.

Additional Resources

Voter Suppression in U. S. Elections by Jim Downs (Editor); Stacey Abrams; Carol Anderson; Kevin M. Kruse; Heather Cox Richardson; Heather Ann Thompson
ISBN: 9780820357737
Publication Date: 2020-06-15
Voter Suppression in U.S. Elections offers an enlightening, history-informed conversation about voter disenfranchisement in the United States. By gathering scholars and activists whose work has provided sharp analyses of this issue, we see how historians in general explore contentious topics and provide historical context for students and the broader public. The book also includes a "top ten" selection of essays and articles by such writers as journalist Ari Berman, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Blight, and civil rights icon John Lewis.
The Voting Rights Act by Harvey Parish (Editor)
ISBN: 9781633219755
Publication Date: 2014
The Voting Rights Act (VRA) is a landmark federal law enacted in 1965 to remove race-based restrictions on voting. It is perhaps the country's most important voting rights law, with a history that dates to the Civil War. After that conflict ended, a number of constitutional amendments were adopted that addressed the particular circumstances of freed slaves, including the Fifteenth Amendment that guaranteed the right to vote for all U.S. citizens regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." This book provides background information on the historical circumstances that led to the adoption of the VRA, a summary of its major provisions, and a brief discussion of the U.S. Supreme Court decision and related legislation in the 113th Congress.