HISTORY

How Forcing Black Voters to Pay a Poll Tax Exploited Racial Wealth Gap

Seemingly benign legislation targeted the black community

Thomas Mundy Peterson, 1st AA to vote following 15th Amendment with Poll Tax Receipts | Design by author

In an 1868 letter to the editor of the Clarksville Weekly Chronicle, W.A. Peffer lamented: “I am most heartily opposed to placing the black man above the white in political power, but such happens to be the case in a number of States.” Before the Civil War, only White landowners could vote. But, as Peffer’s comments suggested, the tide was shifting. Formerly enslaved people could now participate in the franchise. However, not everyone was pleased with the surge in black political power. While some celebrated this progress, others longed to return to a more restrictive system. For instance, an 1873 editorial published in The Montgomery Advertiser argued that “the governing power should be in the hands of tax-paying whites,” falsely claiming that “intelligence predominates with the whites, and ignorance prevails among the blacks.” What was the result of their racist discontent?

Beyond the violence perpetuated against black communities, southern states passed legislation designed to diminish black political power. One of the most prominent examples of this phenomenon would be the poll tax. It may surprise some Americans to learn that states once expected their citizens…