Landmark Impact — Question 1

Landmark Impact 1 / 5

Read the following passage

The grandfather clause was a provision in some southern states that allowed illiterate whites to vote because their ancestors had been able to vote before the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified, effectively bypassing literacy requirements for white citizens while denying them to Black Americans.

In the context of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the struggle against Jim Crow laws, how did the 'grandfather clause' function as a mechanism to undermine black voting rights, and why was the Voting Rights Act significant in addressing this specific issue?

A The grandfather clause was a judicial interpretation from the 1950s that declared Jim Crow laws constitutional, whereas the Voting Rights Act was a foreign policy initiative designed to prevent future conflicts in Southeast Asia. B The grandfather clause was a federal law passed in 1964 that required all citizens to register to vote, which the Voting Rights Act intended to strengthen by adding more registration requirements. C The grandfather clause allowed illiterate whites to vote if their ancestors could vote before the Fifteenth Amendment, effectively bypassing literacy requirements; the Voting Rights Act was significant because it explicitly prohibited literacy tests and similar devices, directly removing this loophole to restore black voting rights. D The grandfather clause was a method used by the Civil Rights Movement to ensure that black voters who could read were not unfairly penalized, while the Voting Rights Act focused on international trade agreements to protect domestic markets.

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