North Carolina Prepares Disenfranchisement Amendment 1899

Following the Wilmington coup of 1898, the white supremacist Democratic legislature convening in early 1899 immediately prepared a constitutional amendment imposing literacy tests and poll taxes with a grandfather clause, aimed at permanently eliminating Black voting. The amendment was ratified in 1900. Combined with targeted violence against Black political leaders following the coup, it essentially ended Black political participation in North Carolina for 65 years.