Picturing the Polls: Black Art and the Right to Vote

The right to vote has been coveted since the United States became a democracy. In its early stages, only land-owning white men were afforded the right to vote; and it was even earned, in some instances, with a religious test. In the 18 th century, restrictions became looser. White men who resided in the 13 colonies and had at least 40 pounds of personal property could vote without the religious test. When the U.S. constitution came into effect in 1789, some free Black people were among those who could vote, but of course, they had to be men who owned property. Some women were allowed to vote in New Jersey since 1776. But in 1807, the law was changed, allowing only tax-paying, white male citizens the right to vote. In 1856, all states allowed all white men to vote.

Following the Civil War and during the Reconstruction Era, the Republican party deemed the Black vote important to the party’s future. In 1870, the 15th Amendment granted Black men the right to vote. The House of Representatives approved the 15th Amendment with no Democrats in favor. The Democratic party subsequently enacted Jim Crow laws raising barriers to voter registration. Black voters were hit with poll taxes and discriminatory literacy tests. Although several states in the west had allowed women to vote, it wasn’t until 1918 that Woodrow Wilson supported the suffrage amendment.

The 19th Amendment afforded 26 million women the ability to vote in the 1920 election.  Though Black men and women were legally allowed the right to vote by the 1920 election, discriminatory practices under Jim Crow laws made it difficult for Black men and Black women to vote. Southern states had adopted a poll tax as a requirement for voting to exclude Black people from voting particularly because African Americans were winning local seats in elections. After Reconstruction, the states of the former Confederacy enacted the poll tax. Though the poll tax affected all citizens, wealthy white people would occasionally pay for other white people’s poll taxes.

Presidents Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy worked to consider the fairness of the poll tax. Truman established the President’s Committee on Civil Rights, but little happened during his time in office in the 1950s with the anti-Communist frenzy happening at the time. Kennedy wanted to adopt an amendment, but many lawmakers felt that legislation would help the issue be solved quicker. Kennedy went through with drafting an amendment that took only slightly more than a year to be ratified. The 24th Amendment was proposed in August 1962 and was passed by a two thirds majority in the House and Senate in January 1964. The 24 th Amendment abolished and forbids federal and state governments from imposing taxes on voters during federal elections.

Between the 1850s and 1960s literacy tests were used to disenfranchise African Americans in the south. While these tests were intended to be given to assess whether the voter could read or write, illiterate white people were permitted to vote without taking the test because of grandfather clauses that were written into law. The grandfather clause exempted those whose ancestors had the right to vote before the Civil War. In addition to the poll tax and literacy tests, Black people were also intimidated from voting with violence. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned discriminatory practices in public facilities, such as polling places. But the Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited the administration of literacy tests to citizens. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited poll taxes and literacy tests that were used to keep African Americans from voting in election. By the end of 1965, a quarter of a million new Black voters were registered.

 "The Right To Vote" by Faith Ringgold  

In 1965, three protest marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama were organized to spotlight the inequality in African American voting rights. The first march was led by John Lewis and Reverend Hosea Williams of the SCLC. When the marchers arrived at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were met with violence. This march is known as “Bloody Sunday” because police brutally attacked protestors who were peacefully marching. The second attempt to march to Montgomery to protest for voting rights led by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. resulted in what is known as “Turnaround Tuesday.” This time they turned around when met with police at the end of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. But there was a third march that arrived at the Alabama state capitol on March 25. The three marches were pivotal in advancing the Civil Rights Movement. On August 6, 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed.

Because of the work, sacrifices, and bloodshed of those who knew the importance of voting and fought for that right, African Americans have the power to make significant decisions in elections.

In Brianna Harlan’s artwork, “Ballot Box”, we come to understand the value of the vote. Here the ballot box used to collect votes is chained excessively as if to secure the vote. But this artwork could also represent they ways that Black people were intimidated from voting. This depiction of a ballot box hanging from a post may allude to the terror Black people faced as they attempted to exercise their right to vote. When Black people in the south were brave enough to vote, they may have encountered harm or even death. Maceo Snipes was a World War II veteran that voted in the Georgia Democratic Primary on July 17, 1946. The next day, he was shot in the back by Ku Klux Klansmen. After walking three miles to the hospital, he waited six hours for the doctors to tell him they had no Black blood for a transfusion. He died two days later.

In Charly Palmer’s painting “Voter Line", he depicts a line of Black people of varied ages waiting to cast their votes in a ballot box. The diversity of people standing in line tells of the disenfranchised generations. If this painting is set in 1965, the figures represented in this painting might not have been able to vote in elections prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that outlawed discriminatory voting practices many of the southern states were using. The date 1965, stenciled on the lower right hand of the painting, marks the date that the Voting Rights Act was passed. Though the narrative of voting rights is grim, the bright colors and the two young girls in this artwork represent hope for future generations. This painting symbolizes a new day in Black people’s ability to be a part of the democratic process in the United States.

These three paintings by Sandra Charles’ “Grandma’s Vote,” “My Vote” and “Her Vote” depicts the power of Black women’s vote. The subject in “Her Vote” stands near a polling place as evidenced of the sign behind her, and she wears a red, white, and blue bandana showing her patriotism to the Unites States of America. The second painting, “My Vote,” features a woman standing in front of signs that could potentially represent the politically right and the politically left. The third painting, “Grandma’s Vote” is of an elderly woman standing in front of signs concerning voting like voting rights and identification. These three images together highlight the importance and power of the Black women’s vote. Black women’s votes have been known to decide elections. In 2020, more than two thirds of Black women voted, the third highest rate of any race-gender group.

In this artwork, “Guessing Game,” Taylor Sanders creates a literacy test comparable to the challenging literacy tests Black people would face when trying to register to vote. These tests were designed for failure. This artwork is based on an actual literacy test issued to would-be voters. The would-be voters, during Jim Crow Era tests, were asked to guess how many jellybeans were in a jar. So, it wasn’t a test of literacy at all, just a way to disqualify Black people from voting. Of course, this test does not determine someone’s literacy or intelligence. Some states gave literacy tests that seemed to be made up of riddles, as the questions were so challenging to respond to, one would wonder if there were real answers. One example question from a Louisiana literacy test is: "Print the word vote upside down, but in the correct order." The literacy test was for individuals who could not prove a fifth-grade education, they only had 10 minutes to complete 23 questions, and one wrong answer means they failed the test. The test was not meant to be passed.


This painting, “Race Matters” by Leroy Campbell depicts a polling place with a line of voters, poll workers checking identification, and a voting booth. The background of the painting is a wall plastered with newspaper articles, including articles about former United States president Barack Obama and the news that the 15 th Amendment was ratified. The faces of the voters and poll workers are of a pure black hue, and they wear brightly colored clothing that was fashionable in the 1960s. This juxtaposition between the times by featuring clothing of the 1960s and newspaper clippings of the Obama election and the 15 th Amendment to signify the drastic change in ideology surrounding voting in this country. People who were intimidated at polling places before the Voting Rights Act saw a Black president in their lifetimes. This picture illustrates a dream many people of that generation might not have even thought to dream.