Question

question 10 of 10
what did grandfather clauses mean to african americans who wanted to
vote?

a. only grandfathers were allowed to serve on the election board.

b. grandfathers were not allowed to vote but their children could.

c. they couldnt vote if their grandfather had not been allowed to
vote.

d. they couldnt vote unless they were a grandfather.

Explanation:

Grandfather clauses were laws used to disenfranchise African Americans. These clauses stated that a person could vote only if their grandfather (or ancestor) had been eligible to vote before a certain time (usually before the Civil War, when African Americans were enslaved and couldn't vote). So African Americans, whose grandfathers were enslaved and thus not allowed to vote, were barred from voting by this clause. Let's analyze each option:

• Option A: Grandfather clauses were about voting eligibility, not serving on election boards. Eliminate A.
• Option B: The clauses were restrictive for African Americans, not about grandfathers not voting but children could. The opposite was true—grandfathers (of white people) could vote, and their descendants too, while African Americans were restricted. Eliminate B.
• Option C: This matches the definition of grandfather clauses—if an African American's grandfather wasn't allowed to vote (which was the case for most, as they were enslaved), they couldn't vote.
• Option D: The clause wasn't about being a grandfather, but about the grandfather's voting history. Eliminate D.

Answer:

C. They couldn't vote if their grandfather had not been allowed to vote.