Harvard Students Take 1964 Literacy Test Black Voters Had To Pass Before Voting — They All Failed

[The Mad Titan]

Recently, a group of Harvard students were asked to take the 1964 Louisiana Literacy Test — one of the extreme efforts to stop African Americans from voting that eventually led to the passing of the Voting Rights Act. Since racism is no longer a thing in America, according to the Supreme Court, and the Voting Rights Act has been effectively gutted, it might be time for a lesson from the past.

The test required those who took it to correctly answer 30 questions in 10 minutes — something even a group of Harvard students could not do today. The students were recorded struggling with the vaguely-worded questions. Under Louisiana law at the time these students would each require a 100% score on the test to be able to vote.

Carl Miller, a resident tutor at Harvard who administered the test, says that the purpose of the students’ participation was to teach them how unjust the electoral process was toward African Americans.

“Exactly 50 years ago, states in the American South issued this exact test to any voter who could not ‘prove a fifth grade education,'” said Miller. “Unsurprisingly, the only people who ever saw this test were blacks and, to a lesser extent, poor whites trying to vote in the South.”

Miller said he hoped to “see if some of the ‘brightest young minds in the world” could pass a test that was intended to “prove” someone had at least a fifth-grade education, according to the Daily Mail.


“Louisiana’s literacy test was designed to be failed. Just like all the other literacy tests issued in the South at the time, this test was not about testing literacy at all. It was a legitimate sounding, but devious measure that the State of Louisiana used to disenfranchise people that had the wrong skin tone or belonged to the wrong social class,” Miller said. “And just like that, countless black and poor white voters in the South were disenfranchised.”

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/1...rs-had-to-pass-before-voting-they-all-failed/



I have SO much respect for or grandfathers and forefathers.

 

[DaPresident]

Gracious...



Test was a minefield...But I'm sure even if cats back then would have passed they would have failed because they were SUPPOSED to fail. The fact that this was even allowed, hell, ENCOURAGED tells me all I need to know about this country and the "majority" that has controlled it. Such evil people that pulled bull crap like this on folks. Just goes to show you how LOW some folks actually were/are.

Damn, I hate this period of time in this country. I give all props to those brave men and women that endured and FOUGHT this crap. They stood up to this, and KEPT standing up. Their courage/bravery truly goes through the cracks. That's why it's TANTAMOUNT to vote, even if you don't like the candidates. What our ancestors went through just to be able to vote, should inspire you to do it, if anything, FOR THEM

 

[The Mad Titan]

Gracious...



Test was a minefield...But I'm sure even if cats back then would have passed they would have failed because they were SUPPOSED to fail. The fact that this was even allowed, hell, ENCOURAGED tells me all I need to know about this country and the "majority" that has controlled it. Such evil people that pulled bull crap like this on folks. Just goes to show you how LOW some folks actually were/are.

Damn, I hate this period of time in this country. I give all props to those brave men and women that endured and FOUGHT this crap. They stood up to this, and KEPT standing up. Their courage/bravery truly goes through the cracks. That's why it's TANTAMOUNT to vote, even if you don't like the candidates. What our ancestors went through just to be able to vote, should inspire you to do it, if anything, FOR THEM

Well said

 

[Mowgli]

Cacs.

We keep up the pace the start changin up the tempo.

 

[Heafcliffe]

Cacs of yester-year

 

[FaTaL]

 

[Handsback]

Gracious...



Test was a minefield...But I'm sure even if cats back then would have passed they would have failed because they were SUPPOSED to fail. The fact that this was even allowed, hell, ENCOURAGED tells me all I need to know about this country and the "majority" that has controlled it. Such evil people that pulled bull crap like this on folks. Just goes to show you how LOW some folks actually were/are.

Damn, I hate this period of time in this country. I give all props to those brave men and women that endured and FOUGHT this crap. They stood up to this, and KEPT standing up. Their courage/bravery truly goes through the cracks. That's why it's TANTAMOUNT to vote, even if you don't like the candidates. What our ancestors went through just to be able to vote, should inspire you to do it, if anything, FOR THEM

Despite all of the arguments against voting, this is why I continue to participate. Folks literally died for us to have the right and I'm going to use it.

I try to take the same attitude in general though. There are millions of nameless black bodies at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean and thousands in southern swamps. Everyday I try to get up and do something to honor just one of them. We've got no time to act a fool or be c00ns or feel sorry for ourselves, we've got people to answer to.

 

[Audemar]

Some of these questions rival more than a few engineering questions.

 

[The Mad Titan]

Its crazy that this was LESS than 60 years ago when you think about it.

 

[Pifferry]

My History teacher back in highschool had our class take one of those.
My sociology teacher as well.

 

[observe]

shyts not even that hard..all those questions are easy if you really read em

 

[The Mad Titan]

shyts not even that hard..all those questions are easy if you really read em

Remember you got 10 mins and the education most blacks got at that time was limited.

 

[observe]

Remember you got 10 mins and the education most blacks got at that time was limited.

no im saying that those harvard students are pretty dumb

 

[Jhoon]

no im saying that those harvard students are pretty dumb

Hey, one of those folks will be our next president.

 

[DrX]

but yet were the savages and animals right? were the bad guys