←back to thread

A near impossible literacy test Louisiana used to suppress the black vote

(www.openculture.com)
319 points rcarmo | 1 comments | 21 Oct 24 21:29 UTC | HN request time: 0.249s | source
Show context
akira2501 ◴[21 Oct 24 23:33 UTC] No.41909656[source]▶
It's possible. It was designed to be. It was used because southern Blacks actually did have a lower literacy rate than Whites at the time and this was seen as the most expedient "filter" they could create.

The real racism was in all the ways to bypass the test. Grandfather clauses, land ownership clauses, "demonstrated understanding" options. Most White people challenged by the test wouldn't ever need to actually confront it.

These weren't the only requirements either. You had to be of "good character" and "understand the duties and obligations of citizenship under a republican form of government" and to be able to "read _and_ write."

Finally even if you were Black and managed all of this it wasn't at all a guarantee that your registration or vote would be accepted. Sometimes this understanding would be communicated in an act of violence.

The test is a tiny archival curiosity created by a much more overt system.

replies(5): >>41909659 #>>41909698 #>>41911770 #>>41913806 #>>41914892 #
tptacek ◴[21 Oct 24 23:34 UTC] No.41909659[source]▶
It's not possible. Several of the questions have multiple valid answers. It's pretty obvious what the scheme is.
replies(4): >>41909721 #>>41909745 #>>41909754 #>>41913350 #
roenxi ◴[21 Oct 24 23:48 UTC] No.41909745[source]▶
Which question(s)? They all seem to have single answers to me.

That being said, I would expect to fail this test.

replies(4): >>41910218 #>>41911164 #>>41911195 #>>41913423 #
hn_throwaway_99 ◴[22 Oct 24 04:27 UTC] No.41911195[source]▶
The first question I see is:

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

I have no idea what "the number of this sentence" or "the letter of this sentence" even means.

replies(5): >>41911284 #>>41911728 #>>41912031 #>>41912267 #>>41922205 #
1. roenxi ◴[23 Oct 24 05:53 UTC] No.41922205[source]▶
> I have no idea what "the number of this sentence" or "the letter of this sentence" even means.

But then you can't believe it has two answers. If you don't understand the question you can't make any claims about it except maybe that you believe it is incoherent. As alexey-salmin says, the only reasonable interpretation is to circle the 1. to left of the question.

To claim that has 2 answers is similar to claiming a "Find x" style question has two answers (solving an equation vs. circling x). No, the question only has one reasonable interpretation. If the examiner is being unreasonable it is not a problem with the question and not something that can be deduced by examining the question.