Take the Impossible “Literacy” Test Louisiana Gave Black Voters in the 1960s

[Tab]

But this Louisiana “literacy” test has nothing to do with citizenship. Designed to put the applicant through mental contortions, the test's questions are often confusingly worded. If some of them seem unanswerable, that effect was intentional. The (white) registrar would be the ultimate judge of whether an answer was correct.

Try this one: “Write every other word in this first line and print every third word in same line (original type smaller and first line ended at comma) but capitalize the fifth word that you write.”

Or this: “Write right from the left to the right as you see it spelled here.”

There was little room for befuddlement. The test was to be taken in 10 minutes flat, and a single wrong answer meant a failing grade.

More: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/06/28/voting_rights_and_the_supreme_court_the_impossible_literacy_test_louisiana.html

[truebluegreen]

1. Wow. That is ugly.

Thank you, oh Supremes of the Supreme!

[tk2kewl]

2. that is fucked up for sure

[Gravitycollapse]

3. Does it matter that the final question has a typographical error?

I'm sure the people who wrote it were dumber than the ones taking it.

[RC]

4. Maybe we can use this to see if elected politicians are intelligent enough to be sworn into office?

Hey, it works for me.

[AlbertCat]

36. OK Tony and Clarence...

....you have 10 minutes.... (use it for SC judges too)

[rdharma]

5. Whoever created that test...... flunked the literacy test!

Draw a line "around"?

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. free at last .. free at last ..

[RockaFowler]

7. Half of that isn't Literate

How is this a literacy test?? There is math and drawing and my God what the heck is #10??

Yeah we don't need no stinkin Voting Rights Act!! This stuff never happened.

[cstanleytech]

13. I believe the answer to #10 was the letter T from the word Last.

[rdharma]

22. I think the answer is "L" like label.

But I don't have a dictionary handy....... so I don't know if that's the first word that starts with "L".

[The Straight Story]

33. Hmm the first word with an L is Circle in that sentence

but the way it is worded, who knows...

[cstanleytech]

44. Regardless it is a completely asine test clearly designed to keep people from exercising

their right to vote.

[Go Vols]

34. agree

[Hydra]

8. O.o

I consider myself able to stretch my sanity occasionally to deal with an insane problem, but 30 questions of insanity in 10 mins, and don't miss anything with the trick questions? Ya, no vote suppression there...

[tclambert]

9. I got fifteen apples.

30 questions in ten minutes? Question 30 isn't even a sentence. #25 is a common optical illusion, repeating the word "the" in a way that hardly anyone ever notices. #17 and #18 are number pattern questions. They might as well have used the nine dots puzzle:



(If you're really good at thinking outside the box, you can do it with THREE straight lines without lifting the pen. And there are a couple of really, really clever ways of doing it with just one line.)

[Iliyah]

10. And now since the 5 asshole justices

have overturned section 4 & 5, GOPers are gonna be more creative in stopping minorities from voting.

[TNNurse]

11. Please

would someone answer questions 10 and 20 for me? My college degrees did not prepare me for this test. Also, there are others I might have problems with and have nothing to do with literacy.

I am creating a list in my mind of all the elected officials who would flunk this. George W. Bush and Rick Perry come to mind.

[JHB]

14. "t" and "backwards"...

...although replacing the comma in 20 with a colon would change the meaning, though I suspect the officials administering the test weren't so particular, and would read it whichever way ensured the person failed the test.


Next time Sarah Palin whines about "gotcha" questions, send her this.

[arely staircase]

23. not sure

I think the comma makes it sdrawrof. Without the comma it is backwards. But I could be wrong. And I'm sure I would be regardless of what I put since the whole purpose of the test is for me to fail it.

[toddwv]

47. You would be wrong.

If you're black.


That's the point of these ridiculous "literacy" tests. Ambiguous instruction guarantee a failure rate that can be controlled by whoever is administrating them.

[TNNurse]

37. I am pretty sure

that 20 could be marked wrong regardless of the answer. I knew there were such tests, but this evidence is chilling.

[frazzled]

12. Unbelievable; I have never seen one of these before

And I was born in 1950. I'm dumbfounded, and not just at how bad and screwy this "test" is. Reading through it made it hit home for me--in a very visceral way--just what it meant that this test was administered only to "certain" people. I knew this, but reading the test really brought home how truly evil and unjust this was, in many regions.

And I truly fear that we are slip-sliding our way back into that ugly morass.

[okaawhatever]

15. Fine mother f**kers, two can play that game. I say we give that same test to every charter/religious

school grad as a literacy test. After all, that is Louisiana's definition of literacy. LA says you must use this test if you cannot prove a fifth grade education. Let's see how many of those Jesus rides dinosaurs a$$holes can prove they're "literate".

[toddwv]

48. Can you imagine the outrage

if you had to "pass" an IQ test to own a gun.

Apparently one right isn't as important as another.

[KamaAina]

16. So only Autistic people can vote in Louisiana.

Works for me. Hell, I could be governor! Y'all come down, ya heah?

[Buzz505]

17. What will the new test look like?

I would love to see some of those fat Louisiana people take this test. Ha! That would be wonderful.

[BrainMann1]

18. I'm from Louisiana, there was something in the water back then.

Apparently some of our justices found some old bottles.

[DFW]

19. I know what should have been done with that test

It should have been administered to every member of the Supreme Court.

Whoever could pass the test would be allowed to rule on the Voting Rights case (majority of 5 still needed to overturn).

[AZ Progressive]

20. Not only this, but that the test had to be completed in 10 minutes, and score a 100% on the test

According to the article, in order to pass and be able to vote.

WTF!!!???

This test shows how truly despicable the white southern establishment was back then in keeping black people from voting. I doubt these people have changed much since then.

[UrbScotty]

25. Yep - just 20 seconds per question.

[Tab]

41. It takes a minimum of 20 seconds

just to try to interpret each sentence, for college-educated me, never mind trying to think through the answers.

[SammyWinstonJack]

21. eh?

[UrbScotty]

24. #25 is a visual trick - "Paris in the the spring"

Some people may have missed the second "the."

[Ilsa]

26. There is no way I could finish this in ten minutes.

I hope it was applied to everyone trying to vote, but I know better.

On edit: I forgot the part about proving a fifth grade education.

[Auntie Bush]

27. Then give that test to every voter.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander. We won't have many voters.

What a horrible test. It isn't just a literacy test. It's an IQ test...and you have to be a good reader and smart person to succeed. Probably half the nation couldn't pass it.
Probably 90% of the South would fail.

[AndyA]

28. No doubt it was intentionally written to be confusing

Either that, or the people who wrote it were the ones who really needed to pass a "literacy" test before they were hired!

But no, we don't need any oversight to make sure voting is fair and available to all...because this kind of stuff didn't happen, apparently, according to some on the SCOTUS.

[Gin]

29. Man.....I would have failed the stupid test......no voting for me.

[Faygo Kid]

30. Don't let Rick Perry see this

He won't understand it, but if it disenfranchises minority voters, he'll use it.

[tblue]

31. I hate Clarence Thomas.

And I bet he can't pass that test.

[Chaco Dundee]

32. right on

Of course the rorschach is not a literacy test,but this test here rivals it.after this test,if you are still sane,the rorschach is childsplay.

[bike man]

35. Whoever devised this test would have failed, based on question 30.

30. Draw five circles that one common inter-locking part.

I think it would be better as 'Draw five circles that HAVE one common inter-locking part.'

No vote for you, dude.

[pnwmom]

38. Many of the other questions made no sense either.

I think that was kind of the point.

[bike man]

39. I got those, but it took longer than the 10 minutes allowed.

[Posteritatis]

45. Yeah, it's very much by design. (nt)

[npk]

40. Train A leaves Station B at 9:00AM. Train B leaves Station B at 10:00AM

At what speed will Train B need to travel to overtake Train A before they arrive at the next station, if the next station is 100 miles away and Train A is traveling at 25 MPH.

[0rganism]

42. #19: WTF is the "left corner" of a triangle?

Frankly, that whole test is so offensive, I would have just written "fuck you" for the answer to every question. But I'm white, so maybe they'd let me vote anyway.

[JI7]

43. i don't know why but reading this makes me even more angry

i knew about the tests but i don't think i have ever actually seen them.

[Luminous Animal]

46. Trying to vote. Trying to be a good citizen... it must have been heartbreaking to

be faced with such.

[treestar]

49. Seems designed to trick people

And one wrong answer is enough to disqualify - so obvious what they were trying to do.