The Southern states, even after slavery was abolished, still held a grudge towards African Americans. They even ended up enacting numerous functions to stop the voting of African Americans, as they thought that if they voted, they would vote for someone that wanted equality. Southerners wanted to <em>keep African Americans oppressed</em> and keep control of the office.
One of the things that the Southern states would do would be <em>literacy tests</em>, as African Americans often did not have the chance to obtain education, many did not know how to read or write. A good amount of African Americans would fail the literacy tests and could not vote.
<em>Poll taxes</em> were another huge thing that kept African Americans from voting, as many did not have a lot of money to spare, as discrimination was still present among workplaces, so they would not make the same amount of money as a white man, so this also kept African Americans from voting.
In <u>1870</u>, the<em> 15th Amendment</em> was finally ratified, which made it so men of any race could vote freely and not be discriminated against.
