After the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870, which established that voting rights could not be denied based on race, most southern states started to enact laws that hindered African American citizens' right to vote. The imposition of poll taxes was one of the ways that they achieved it.
And it wasn't until 1964, when the 24th Amendment was enacted, that poll taxes were abolished. As the Amendment states:
<em>The right of citizens of the United States to vote</em><em> in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, s</em><em>hall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state by reason of failure to pay any </em><u><em>poll tax or other tax.</em></u>
