* Poll taxes: These required voters to pay a fee to register and vote. While seemingly small, this fee was often prohibitive for many poor people, both Black and white. However, the impact fell disproportionately on African Americans who had been systematically impoverished through slavery and subsequent discriminatory practices like sharecropping and lack of economic opportunity. They simply couldn't afford the tax.
* Literacy tests: These tests required voters to demonstrate a certain level of reading and writing ability. These tests were often administered subjectively, with white registrars using arbitrary standards and deliberately failing Black applicants even if they were literate. The tests were designed to be difficult, and many questions were intentionally obscure or irrelevant. Additionally, many African Americans had been denied education during slavery and afterward, making passing these tests extremely difficult even for those with some literacy skills.
In essence, the combination of poll taxes and literacy tests created a nearly insurmountable barrier to voting for African Americans. The financial burden of the poll tax, coupled with the intentionally biased and difficult literacy tests, effectively prevented them from exercising their right to vote despite the 15th Amendment. This systematic disenfranchisement was a key element of Jim Crow laws and contributed to the political powerlessness of Black communities for many decades.