Mississippi Constitutional Convention Systematically Disenfranchises Black Voters

The Mississippi Constitutional Convention of 1890 devised a set of race-neutral disfranchisement mechanisms specifically designed to eliminate Black voting while technically complying with the 15th Amendment. Provisions included a $2 poll tax (approximately two days' wages for a sharecropper), literacy tests administered by white registrars with discretion to fail Black applicants, a 'understanding clause' requiring applicants to interpret sections of the state constitution to the registrar's satisfaction, and a residency requirement. The result was near-total Black disfranchisement: Black voter registration in Mississippi fell from over 190,000 to under 9,000 within a decade. The 'Mississippi Plan' of 1890 was replicated by every Southern state by 1910.