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1960s Louisiana literacy test used to stop blacks from voting

Smeagol

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One incorrect answer results in disqualification from voting. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

I wasn't born yet but my parents were, one of whom is a Louisianan.

Voting rights and the Supreme Court: The impossible

An imperfect country that has made tremendous improvements.
 
30 questions and you can't miss one? Damn. A lot of those questions were very ambiguous as to what they actually wanted you to do.

And is it just me or is some of the grammar wrong? Like number 30 for instance:
"Draw 5 circles that one common-interlocking part".

I mean.. wtf does that mean?
 
Sickening and this crap went on only ~50 years ago and so many white people want to tell black people to "move on" and "get over it" when it comes to racism and animosity. **** that.
 
30 questions and you can't miss one? Damn. A lot of those questions were very ambiguous as to what they actually wanted you to do.

And is it just me or is some of the grammar wrong? Like number 30 for instance:
"Draw 5 circles that one common-interlocking part".

I mean.. wtf does that mean?

Yeah, that didn't make any sense. I also liked "draw three circles, one inside the other." No way that test could be passed.
 
Yeah, that didn't make any sense. I also liked "draw three circles, one inside the other." No way that test could be passed.

How about:

- Spell backwards, forwards.

- Draw a line around the number or letter of this sentence.

I mean... wtf? I wonder if this is a hoax. This is too stupid to be real.
 
Sickening and this crap went on only ~50 years ago and so many white people want to tell black people to "move on" and "get over it" when it comes to racism and animosity. **** that.

Well, if you never had to take the test personally, there is nothing for you to get over because you were not a victim. :doh
 
Sickening and this crap went on only ~50 years ago and so many white people want to tell black people to "move on" and "get over it" when it comes to racism and animosity. **** that.

Yeah.

Probably a better plan to rely on 50-year-old excuses.
 
Well, if you never had to take the test personally, there is nothing for you to get over because you were not a victim. :doh
I'm sure you really believe that.
 
Yeah.

Probably a better plan to rely on 50-year-old excuses.
Please explain to me how a black person who uses their resentment of how black people have been treated poorly as motivation to become successful is "relying on 50 year old excuses."
 
I'm sure you really believe that.

So in other words, you never were the victim of literacy tests but you feel entitled to something because someone else was? Awesome, the Native-American part of my DNA laughs in your general direction. :2rofll:

Now, where are my reparations from all the black land owners in the country?
 
Sickening and this crap went on only ~50 years ago and so many white people want to tell black people to "move on" and "get over it" when it comes to racism and animosity. **** that.

As stupid as that test may have been how the hell do you figure that it was biased against blacks?
 
Please explain to me how a black person who uses their resentment of how black people have been treated poorly as motivation to become successful is "relying on 50 year old excuses."

I'm really of two minds on the matter.

First, if that's your use for it then get on down with your bad self. The problem I have with it is that far too many blacks use it as an excuse for why they haven't become, or aren't able to become, successful.

Second, do black folks really need it? I get that "living well is the best revenge", and all that. And if it works for you then it's hard to knock it. But does resenting something that was never done to YOU (personally) (and I'm also talking here to all you black folks out there in the audience) by white folks who you're never likely to come into contact with, really justify the divisiveness of something like this?

It's like Christians resenting Muslims because Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Just from my own perspective, I'd hazard to guess that I'm as successful as any member of this Internet community (understanding, and ignoring,that there may be a handful of multi billionaires as outliers).

Not once have I relied on resentment or hate to get me where I am.
 
Sickening and this crap went on only ~50 years ago and so many white people want to tell black people to "move on" and "get over it" when it comes to racism and animosity. **** that.

Yes, it's far better to continuing hating and remaining bitter throughout your life rather than 'moving on'. Will you be teaching your children to do the same?
 
Yes, it's far better to continuing hating and remaining bitter throughout your life rather than 'moving on'. Will you be teaching your children to do the same?

More to the point, most of the folks who post here at DP weren't even alive then.
 
Sickening and this crap went on only ~50 years ago and so many white people want to tell black people to "move on" and "get over it" when it comes to racism and animosity. **** that.

America is a much different place today than it was in 1960. I know much of America's history in race relations is shameful but we can't live in the past, thank God. We should honor the heroes and history but live in the present. In fact I think that's what Harriet Tubman, John Brown, Martin Luther King and other heroes of racial equality would have wanted. Not long ago the most famous political figure in the State of Louisiana was also the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Today its the son of immigrants from South Asia who is of a darker complexion than half the people that stupid literacy test banned from voting. The children and grandchildren of those who instituted the racist policies of the past are some of the most colorblind and kindest people you'll ever meet. At the same time some of the children and grandchildren of the victims of past racial injustice have been in some cases some of the most evil people I've ever encountered from the thug who stuck a gun in my mother's face and laughed about it as he walked away with her purse to others who have done worse to other loved ones.

Honest to goodness, one of the motivators of Al Qaeda terrorism is pain and rage they feel from mistreatment they suffered in freaking 1099ad! A big part of Middle Eastern culture is camping out and living mentally in the so-called "Islamic Golden Age" when they had a pretty advanced society as far as the Middle Ages go. Then the Crusades happened and that all ended. Living in the past doesn't do anyone any good. There's way more we can be grateful for than to be mad about, especially since its not happening anymore. Even if it were still happening, the heroism of the Civil Rights Movement was their ability to genuinely love those who were carrying out acts of hatred toward them and as MLK so eloquently stated love isn't the same thing as like. ;)
 
When I got to "Paris in the the spring", I had to hang my head in shame. That was a joke that I played successfully on my friends when I was i grade school.

I was 10 years old then. The "colored" and "white" restrooms and drinking fountains were still in Biloxi and Greenville Texas had the famous "Nigger, don't let the sun go down on you" billboard as you drove into the city limits.

White man's guilt. I haz it.
 
Well, if you never had to take the test personally, there is nothing for you to get over because you were not a victim. :doh

Not true. Even those who didn't want to vote could not. So they were still victims but never took the test.
 
Yeah, that didn't make any sense. I also liked "draw three circles, one inside the other." No way that test could be passed.

I mean... wtf? I wonder if this is a hoax. This is too stupid to be real.

It is very tempting to be skeptical of this test. I think we all know that “literacy tests” were once used to selectively deny voting rights, but it is surprising to see this example, as blatantly unreasonable as it is. I suppose it makes some sense, if you assume that the test would only be given to someone who the person administering it had already formed an intent to prevent from voting, with the idea that once one was so selected, there was no way that one was going to be allowed to pass it. But I didn't expect it to be so blatantly unpassable. There's enough ambiguity and just plain nonsense in this test that nobody could pass it, if the one administering it didn't want it to be passed.
 
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