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“Can You Spot The Tricks?” Find Out If You Can Take This Jim Crow-Era Literacy Test Without Failing
This is Part 2 of our 1960s Voter Eligibility Literacy quiz. Every question you’ll face here is pulled directly from the historic events surrounding the 1960s Louisiana Literacy Test. This trial was known as a “voter qualification” exam – used during the Jim Crow era to suppress the voting rights of African Americans.
The tests themselves were nearly impossible to pass. Not because people couldn’t read, but because the instructions were deliberately vague, misleading, and contradictory. During that era, Louisiana wasn’t the only one subjected to such tests.
States like Alabama and Mississippi used similar literacy examinations as part of a broader system of racial disenfranchisement. This system included poll taxes, intimidation, and “grandfather clauses,” which were used to block as many Black citizens from voting as possible. This was done in a way that wouldn’t openly violate the Constitution.
The rules were brutal and simple: answer all 30 questions in 10 minutes. One mistake meant automatic failure. On paper, the test looked like it was analyzing reading skills. In reality, it was full of vague instructions, logic traps, and subjective grading. All of which was designed to make people fail.
So, how would you have fared under this system? Take this quiz to find out.
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What do you think ?
sbj 4 months ago
The word vote seems very popular in this test maybe it's being used subliminally
Tim Gearing 4 months ago
So Louisiana rigged the test. Along the same lines….. In the early 1900s, Australian citizenship was largely defined by the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 which effectively implemented the White Australia Policy. This policy aimed to restrict non-European immigration, and one of its key tools was a dictation test. Migrants deemed undesirable could be given a 50-word dictation test in any European language, and failure effectively prevented them from entering Australia. The law existed until 1973.
Brettargh 4 months ago
The answers to questions 22 and 25 are wrong, (likely a technical error during setup?). Question 22 should be ‘Cat, Kind, Candy, Cup’, all of which start with a hard “Ka” sound. The apparent answer, ‘Vote, Vow, View, Vast’ all start with the same letters but are NOT the same sound; Vo, Vah, Ve, Va. Then question 25, “write vote backwards with each letter facing forwards”, the correct answer is ‘etov’ with the letter facing FOWARDS. “Write backwards” denotes the order of the letters, and “each letter facing forwards” denotes the direction of each individual letter; in this case, facing forward which is the usual direction of writing. The apparent answer of requiring a mirror is incorrect, you would only need a mirror if the question asked for each letter facing backwards.
person (i think) 4 months ago
Also, for #17, 2 of the options are correct. You are not “printing” if you don’t pick up your pen
Load More Replies... sbj 4 months ago
The word vote seems very popular in this test maybe it's being used subliminally
Tim Gearing 4 months ago
So Louisiana rigged the test. Along the same lines….. In the early 1900s, Australian citizenship was largely defined by the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 which effectively implemented the White Australia Policy. This policy aimed to restrict non-European immigration, and one of its key tools was a dictation test. Migrants deemed undesirable could be given a 50-word dictation test in any European language, and failure effectively prevented them from entering Australia. The law existed until 1973.
Brettargh 4 months ago
The answers to questions 22 and 25 are wrong, (likely a technical error during setup?). Question 22 should be ‘Cat, Kind, Candy, Cup’, all of which start with a hard “Ka” sound. The apparent answer, ‘Vote, Vow, View, Vast’ all start with the same letters but are NOT the same sound; Vo, Vah, Ve, Va. Then question 25, “write vote backwards with each letter facing forwards”, the correct answer is ‘etov’ with the letter facing FOWARDS. “Write backwards” denotes the order of the letters, and “each letter facing forwards” denotes the direction of each individual letter; in this case, facing forward which is the usual direction of writing. The apparent answer of requiring a mirror is incorrect, you would only need a mirror if the question asked for each letter facing backwards.
person (i think) 4 months ago
Also, for #17, 2 of the options are correct. You are not “printing” if you don’t pick up your pen
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