Name three ways that white Southerners restricted African Americans’ right to vote.

White Southerners restricted the African American right to vote in various ways. These restrictions began with the ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870 up until the passing of the Voting Rights Act by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6th, 1965. This period would be known as the Era of Jim Crow (based on a minstrel show character that negatively portrayed African Americans) as mostly white southerners did everything they could to segregate themselves, intimidate minorities, and stop African Americans from voting.
First, many Southerners simply used fear and violence to stop African Americans from voting. Groups such as the Ku Klux Klan (Founded in Pulaski, Tennessee) and The White League (Founded in Louisiana) quickly spread to other parts of the South and took part in marches, riots, and even murder to stop African Americans from going to the polls. For example, during election season in 1876, a group known as the Red Shirts executed four African Americans in Hamburg, South Carolina in what would become known as the Hamburg Massacre.
Second, whites during this era also used political power to stop African Americans from having the right to vote. One way in which they did this was through the use of the Grandfather Clause and Poll Taxes. The Grandfather Clause stated that any man whose grandfather did not vote, could not vote either. Therefore, the majority if not all of African Americans could not vote as most of their grandfathers had been slaves. Poll Taxes were taxes that forced African Americans to pay for their right to vote. Due to the fact that African Americans were just coming out of slavery, many were unwilling or did not have the money to pay such taxes. Poll taxes were even written into many Southern State Constitutions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Finally, African Americans were disenfranchised with the use of literacy tests that forced them to prove that they could read before they were allowed to vote. A common example of this would be the Eight Box Law. This law created a system where ballot boxes were set up in front of voters. If the voter could not read the ballot boxes and place their ballot in the correct box, then their vote did not count. Tests and laws such as these were common place in the American South throughout the Jim Crow Era.

The first way the Southerns restricted African Americans from voting was by imposing a poll tax on their constituents. With this measure placed in the laws, many people received a tax when going to vote. The tax was about $25 to $50 dollars with inflation included in this estimate. This tax was applied to all voters, black and white, so people with low incomes found themselves unable to pay the tax and therefore unable to vote. The next restriction was in-acting literacy test on all citizens. Thus, voters were ask to take a test to see if they understood what was read to them, if they did they could vote and if they didn't they couldn't vote. But their was one major problem back in that era, many people were illiterate, which meant many people at that time were denied the opportunity to vote. It was even found that voting officers' claimed that many of the whites understood what was read to them and the blacks even if the did understand, were unable to comprehend the passage read to them. And lastly, was the violence that was put upon African Americans just because they voted or attempted to vote. For example many people were intimidated, beaten and killed and even in some cases their families were harmed. So in some situations people would pass the requirements to vote but they took a risk for doing so.

One way was intimidation through hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan beat up influential African Americans and stood guard over polling places to ensure minimal black participation. Sometimes they even resorted to lynchings. Another way was a poll tax. Poor whites who promised to support the Democratic Party usually could get access to the funds to vote, but these funds were denied to African Americans, who primarily supported Republicans in elections. Poll taxes were abolished in 1964 as part of the civil rights movement. Another rule was the grandfather clause. This rule stated that if one's grandfather could vote in 1860, then one also had the right to vote. Of course, this ruled out African Americans—even if they were free, they could not legally vote.
A fourth barrier to the polls was the literacy test. As the South did not receive public education until after the war, many poor people in the South could barely read or write. Poor whites who promised to uphold the system were often given the simplest things to read, while African Americans were given a passage from the Constitution to analyze. These barriers, both customary and legal, curtailed African American voter turnout until the Democratic Party regained power in the South after 1877.