08/02/2026
On this day (8/2/1900) in the history of racial injustice! Despite Black people being subjected to literacy tests in order to register to vote, white men in North Carolina (including those who were illiterate and clearly weren't subjected to literacy tests) voted to disenfranchise black voters.
On August 2, 1900, North Carolina approved a constitutional amendment that required Black residents to pass a literacy test in order to register to vote. Under the provision, illiterate registrants with a relative who had voted in an election prior to the year 1867 were exempt from the requirement.
These provisions effectively disenfranchised most of the state’s African American voting population. At the same time, the rules preserved the voting rights of most of the state’s poor and uneducated white residents—who were much more likely to have a relative eligible to vote in 1867, before the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. To the drafters and supporters of the amendment, this outcome was by design to support white supremacy!
Until we confront our history of racial injustice and its legacy, we cannot overcome the racial bias that exists today.
Images & language from Equal Justice Initiative
Learn more at https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/aug/2
