What political and legal obstacles persisted that limited Black voting after the 15th Amendment?

• A. Literacy tests, poll taxes, grandfather clauses, intimidation, and violence to suppress Black voters.
• B. Universal suffrage granted to all groups.
• C. Immediate protection by federal troops nationwide.
• D. No obstacles existed; voting remained unrestricted.

Answer: (A)

After the 15th Amendment, Black voters still faced deliberate barriers designed to preserve white dominance in the South. Literacy tests were used to disqualify many Black citizens, often administered unfairly with biased or opaque criteria. Poll taxes imposed a financial hurdle that many Black voters could not overcome, effectively keeping them from the polls even when other requirements were met. Grandfather clauses exempted white voters whose ancestors had voted before the Civil War, which had the practical effect of excluding most Black voters who had been enslaved and denied the vote. In addition, intimidation and violence—threats, harassment, and acts of terror by groups like the Ku Klux Klan—discouraged registration and voting. These mechanisms show how constitutional guarantees did not immediately translate into real voting rights, until later federal efforts—such as the Civil Rights Movement and the Voting Rights Act of 1965—began to address and overturn them.