{"id":56893,"date":"2020-03-10T10:24:57","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T14:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=56893"},"modified":"2023-11-28T14:33:05","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T19:33:05","slug":"genealogy-101-poll-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/genealogy-101-poll-taxes.html","title":{"rendered":"Genealogy 101: Poll Taxes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article \u2013 part of an ongoing \u201cIntroduction to Genealogy\u201d series \u2013 Gena Philibert-Ortega describes how poll tax and voting records can help fix your ancestor in a particular time and place. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Taxes. There\u2019s no escaping them, but some taxes are much more than just money paid to the government. Case in point: poll taxes. In the 20th century, they were part of an effort to exclude certain people \u2013 who were eligible to vote \u2013 from voting.<\/p>\n

About Poll Taxes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Poll taxes (poll meaning \u201chead\u201d) were \u201ctaxes paid for a head that was taxable.\u201d (1) How long have poll taxes existed in the United States? \u201cA poll tax was employed by all of the colonies at one period or another. It was the only direct tax levied in Virginia for years. In 1923, 38 of 48 states had poll tax provisions.\u201d (2)<\/p>\n

According to The Genealogist\u2019s Guide to Researching Tax Records<\/em> by Carol Cooke Darrow, CG and Susan Winchester, PhD, CPA:<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the American Revolution some states used the payment of the poll or head tax as a substitute for land ownership as a requirement for voting, which broadened voting eligibility. New Hampshire, Georgia, and North Carolina adopted state constitutions allowing men to vote if they paid any state tax, and each of these states began to levy a poll tax.\u201d (3)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"An<\/a>
Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), 21 December 1921, page 33<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Poll Taxes and Voting Rights<\/strong><\/p>\n

While the Southern United States didn\u2019t invent poll taxes, the South used them and literacy tests to disenfranchise African Americans, women, and poor whites. In some cases, exemptions for paying poll taxes were made for those who had a father or grandfather who voted prior to the Civil War. Since this condition was something that no African American could meet, this exemption only benefited whites. (4) Poll taxes required someone to pay anywhere from the equivalent of $7 to $15 today, before they could register to vote. (5)<\/p>\n

Authors Darrow and Winchester further explain:<\/p>\n

\u201cStates enacted laws to make payment of a poll tax voluntary, but used it as a requirement for voting. Florida imposed the poll tax suffrage qualification in 1889. Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, South Carolina, Louisiana, North Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, Texas and Georgia soon followed. The poll tax payment was required up to a year in advance of any election, and voters were usually asked to produce the receipt for payment of the tax at the time of voting. Those who could not show the receipt were prohibited from voting.\u201d (6)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After 1920, both white and African American women were sometimes kept from voting because of poll taxes. One can understand how, due to difficult finances or a husband who refused to pay for his wife, some newly enfranchised women were still effectively prevented from voting.<\/p>\n

The 24th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1964, prohibits \u201cstates from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax.\u201d Although this amendment outlawed poll taxes for federal elections, it didn\u2019t address state or local elections \u2013 and five states continued charging a poll tax after the amendment was passed: Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia. In 1966 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that poll taxes were unconstitutional for any level of elections. (7)<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas), 18 January 1964, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finding the Records<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tax records may be found in a variety of places. First, check FamilySearch<\/a>. A search on the keywords \u201cpoll tax\u201d in the FamilySearch Catalog provides an idea of what may be available. Also consider doing a Place search for the county you are researching, then clicking on the subject category Taxation to reveal possible records.<\/p>\n

Also, check the FamilySearch Digital Library<\/a> for possible indexes and other published poll tax lists. Because the Digital Library includes other libraries aside from FamilySearch, you may find something you wouldn\u2019t have found otherwise.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: list of people assessed for poll taxes in the town of Watertown, Massachusetts, 1906. Credit: FamilySearch Digital Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Historical societies, libraries, and archives may also hold poll tax and voting records.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s More to Research<\/strong><\/p>\n

Voting records and poll taxes provide more records for us to fix our ancestor in a particular time and place. Have you used poll taxes in your research?<\/p>\n

________________<\/p>\n

(1) Darrow, Carol C, and Susan Winchester. The Genealogist\u2019s Guide to Researching Tax Records. Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 2007, p. 47.
\n(2) Walker, Harvey. \u201cThe Poll Tax in the United States.\u201d The Bulletin of the National Tax Association, Vol. 9, No. 2 (November, 1923), p. 47. Available online from https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/41785656<\/span>
\n(3) Darrow, Carol C, and Susan Winchester. The Genealogist\u2019s Guide to Researching Tax Records. Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 2007, p. 47-48.
\n(4) \u201cPoll Taxes,\u201d National Museum of American History (accessed 1 February 2020).
\n(5) \u201cGallup Vault: Lining Up against Poll Taxes,\u201d Gallup (https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/vault\/196604\/gallup-vault-lining-against-poll-taxes.aspx<\/a>: accessed 2 February 2020).
\n(6) Darrow, Carol C, and Susan Winchester. The Genealogist\u2019s Guide to Researching Tax Records. Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 2007, p. 48-49.
\n(7) \u201cTwenty-Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution,\u201d Wikipedia (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Twenty-fourth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution<\/a>: accessed 1 February 2020).<\/p>\n

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