The infamous grandfather clauses, enacted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, were laws that allowed individuals to bypass certain voting restrictions, such as literacy tests or poll taxes, if their grandfathers had been eligible to vote before the Civil War. These clauses effectively disenfranchised many African American voters while allowing white voters to maintain their voting rights. The measures were part of a broader effort to circumvent the 15th Amendment and maintain white supremacy in the electoral process.
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