Racial discrimination in voting has been a significant issue throughout Black history in the United States. Following the Reconstruction era in the late 19th century, Southern states implemented various measures to disenfranchise Black voters, including literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses. These discriminatory policies were aimed at preventing African Americans from exercising their right to vote and participating in the political process.

One of the most notorious forms of voter suppression was the widespread use of literacy tests, which required prospective voters to demonstrate their ability to read and interpret complex texts, often administered in a discriminatory manner to African Americans. Poll taxes also posed a significant barrier to Black voters, as many could not afford to pay the fee required to cast a ballot. Grandfather clauses further restricted voting rights by exempting individuals from literacy tests and poll taxes if their grandfathers had been eligible to vote before the Civil War, effectively disenfranchising the descendants of enslaved people.

These discriminatory practices persisted well into the 20th century, despite the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1870, which theoretically granted African American men the right to vote. It wasn't until the civil rights movement of the 1960s that significant progress was made in dismantling these barriers to voting rights. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a landmark piece of legislation that prohibited racial discrimination in voting and provided federal oversight of state and local election practices in jurisdictions with a history of disenfranchising Black voters.

While great strides have been made in increasing access to the ballot for African Americans, voter suppression tactics continue to persist in various forms, such as strict voter ID laws, voter roll purges, and gerrymandering. The fight for equal voting rights and against racial discrimination in the electoral process remains a critical issue in Black history and in the ongoing struggle for social justice and equality.