Louisiana Grandfather Clause Disenfranchises Black Voters

Louisiana's 1898 constitution introduced the 'grandfather clause' — exempting from literacy tests and poll taxes anyone whose father or grandfather had been eligible to vote before 1867 (i.e., before Black voting rights), thereby ensuring poor and illiterate whites could vote while excluding Black voters. Louisiana's registered Black voters fell from 130,334 in 1896 to 5,320 in 1900 — a 96% reduction in four years. By 1904, there were only 1,342 Black registered voters in Louisiana. The grandfather clause spread to other Southern states and was not declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court until Guinn v. United States (1915).