Mississippi Constitution of 1890 Invents Modern Disfranchisement Toolkit

Mississippi's 1890 constitutional convention designed the template for Black disfranchisement that every other Southern state then copied. The 'Mississippi Plan' combined: poll taxes, literacy tests administered by hostile white registrars, understanding clauses requiring applicants to interpret state constitutional provisions to registrars' satisfaction, grandfather clauses, felon disenfranchisement, and residency requirements. Every subsequent Southern state constitution adopted versions of these mechanisms. US Senator James Z. George of Mississippi openly stated the convention's goal was Black disfranchisement while maintaining the form of the 15th Amendment.