In These Times

Michael Peshkin makes an egregious historical error, stating that the 1964 Civil Rights Act abolished the poll tax, when in fact it was the 24th Amendment, ratified that year, that outlawed its use in federal elections, with the Supreme Court two years later ruling that such taxes in state elections violated the 14th Amendment. But, more important, the widespread and careless use of analogies between practices and arrangements in the Jim Crow South and voting problems today irresponsibly undermines public understanding of just how terrible conditions were for southern blacks prior to the Civil Rights Revolution. If poll taxes (and other …

Posted to Are Long Lines the ‘New Poll Tax’?