A poll-tax petition from 1930s Tennessee.

This is a petition sponsored by the Committee for Progressive Legislation of the Tennessee Legislative Congress. It, and others like it, were circulated to protest poll taxes that were legislated in the post-Reconstruction South. Poll taxes were used to disenfranchise African Americans. “Grandfather clauses” provided a loophole for poor white citizens: If one’s family could have been registered to vote in the 1860 election, one would not need to pay the poll tax.

Citation Information
“Poll Tax Petition,” Digital Public Library of America https://dp.la/item/d191da9b8b9745c605c88221229c07cd.
Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.
Courtesy of Tennessee State Library and Archives and Digital Initiatives, James E. Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University via Digital Library of Tennessee.

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