Poll taxes were used as a tool of voter suppression targeting African Americans during the Jim Crow era in the United States. Poll taxes required citizens to pay a fee in order to vote, effectively disenfranchising many black voters who could not afford the tax.

Implemented in various states throughout the South, poll taxes were specifically designed to prevent African Americans from exercising their right to vote. The 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1964, outlawed the use of poll taxes in federal elections. However, it wasn't until the Supreme Court's ruling in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections in 1966 that poll taxes were declared unconstitutional in state elections as well.

Poll taxes are a dark chapter in American history that highlights the systemic barriers faced by African Americans in their struggle for equality and civil rights. The abolition of poll taxes was a significant victory in the ongoing fight for voting rights and racial justice in the United States.