2-835-204 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

During the era of segregation in the United States, voting rights were denied to African Americans in the form of discriminatory taxation. Having to pay $1.50 - the equivalent of a day's wages - made voting beyond the reach of the poor. The receipt is on white paper with black and red ink and has set fields including Age, State, Citizen, Sex, and Race. The information is filled out by hand. The receipt, issued in 1955, provides that the voter has paid the $1.50 poll tax in Hardin County, Texas. The receipt was produced by Maverick Clarke printers. In 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Harper v. Virginia Board of Electors, that poll taxes for any level of election were unconstitutional.