Editing Literacy test (section)

{{Short description|Examination of a person's ability to read and write}}
{{About|citizenship and voting eligibility tests in the United States|the standardized test in Ontario|Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test}}
{{Globalize|date=June 2020|2=US}}[[File:The color line still exists—in this case cph.3b29638.jpg|thumb|upright|Editorial cartoon from the January 18, 1879, issue of ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'' criticizing the use of literacy tests. It shows "Mr. [[Solid South]]" writing on wall, "Eddikashun qualifukashun. The Blak man orter be eddikated afore he kin vote with us Wites, signed Mr. Solid South."]]

A '''literacy test''' assesses a person's [[literacy]] skills: their ability to read and write. Literacy tests have been administered by various governments, particularly to [[immigrants]]. 

Between the 1850s<ref>{{cite web|url=http://connecticuthistory.org/literacy-tests-and-the-right-to-vote/|title=Literacy Tests and the Right To Vote - ConnecticutHistory.org|website=connecticuthistory.org|date=2 November 2020}}</ref> and 1960s, literacy tests were used as an effective tool for [[Disfranchisement|disenfranchising]] [[African American]]s in the Southern United States. Literacy tests were typically administered by white clerks who could pass or fail a person at their discretion based on race.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2023-08-08 |title=How Jim Crow-Era Laws Suppressed the African American Vote for Generations |url=https://www.history.com/news/jim-crow-laws-black-vote |website=HISTORY |language=en}}</ref> Illiterate whites were often permitted to vote without taking these literacy tests because of [[Grandfather clause|grandfather clauses]] written into legislation.<ref name=":0" />

Other countries, notably Australia, as part of its [[White Australia policy]], and South Africa adopted literacy tests either to exclude certain racialized groups from voting or to prevent them from immigrating to the country.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lake, Marilyn.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1135556055|title=Connected Worlds: History in Transnational Perspective|date=2006|publisher=Australian National University|isbn=978-1-920942-45-8|pages=209–230|oclc=1135556055}}</ref>