Poll taxes were a form of voting restriction that were implemented in various states in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, specifically targeting African Americans and poor white Americans. These taxes required voters to pay a fee in order to cast their ballots, effectively disenfranchising many people who could not afford to pay the tax.

Poll taxes were used as a way to suppress the Black vote and maintain white supremacy in the South. African Americans, who were disproportionately poor due to systemic racism and economic disenfranchisement, were often unable to pay the poll tax and therefore could not participate in the democratic process.

The implementation of poll taxes was finally outlawed with the passage of the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1964, which prohibited the use of poll taxes in federal elections. However, it wasn't until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that the poll tax was formally banned in all state and local elections, finally ensuring that all citizens, regardless of race or economic status, had the right to vote without financial barriers.