Useful Links
March 24, 1966: Supreme Court Officially Abolishes Last Vestige of Poll Taxes
https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/harper-v-virginia-elections/
A look at North Carolina’s modern-day poll taxes
https://southerncoalition.org/anniversary-24th-amendment-look-ncs-modern-day-poll-taxes/
‘If I need ID to Buy Cough Syrup, Why Shouldn’t I Need ID to Vote
How to respond to an ubiquitous and misleading, question about voting rights
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/12/if-i-need-id-to-buy-cough-syrup-why-shouldnt-i-need-id-to-vote/282636/
Lesson from the Movement to Pass the 24th Amendment [Abolishing the Poll Tax]
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/movetoamend/pages/724/attachments/original/1584230595/lesson_from_the_movement_to_pass_the_24th_amendment.pdf?1584230595
https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/harper-v-virginia-elections/
A look at North Carolina’s modern-day poll taxes
https://southerncoalition.org/anniversary-24th-amendment-look-ncs-modern-day-poll-taxes/
‘If I need ID to Buy Cough Syrup, Why Shouldn’t I Need ID to Vote
How to respond to an ubiquitous and misleading, question about voting rights
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/12/if-i-need-id-to-buy-cough-syrup-why-shouldnt-i-need-id-to-vote/282636/
Lesson from the Movement to Pass the 24th Amendment [Abolishing the Poll Tax]
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/movetoamend/pages/724/attachments/original/1584230595/lesson_from_the_movement_to_pass_the_24th_amendment.pdf?1584230595
Primary Sources
Poll Tax Receipt, 1917
http://whatisavoteworth.org/poll-tax-receipt-1917/ A poll-tax petition from 1930s Tennessee. https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/voting-rights-act-of-1965/sources/1386 Text of the 24th Amendment https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-xxiv |
Lessons
Goals/Rationale: In this lesson, students consider the impact of the poll tax as a barrier to voting by examining four primary sources.
Essential Question: What barriers to voting have citizens confronted throughout American history?
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- discuss how poll taxes created an impediment to voting.
- analyze primary sources relating to poll taxes.
- do a close reading of a primary source with cursive writing.
- discuss whether voting is a right or a privilege.
- describe the impact of current local, state and federal laws that might limit voter participation and make an argument either for or against those limitations.