24th Amendment
January 23, 1964
The 24th amendment made poll taxes illegal for elections. Prior to this, poll taxes were a big problem because they restrained a large number of the African American community from voting. Since the time of slavery, it was a struggle for the African Americans to have an income at all, therefore the poll taxes of the time were an unnecessary expenditure that many could still not afford in the 1900's. It was expensive to pay a poll tax so only the middle class whites and wealthy whites could really vote. Making poll taxes illegal gave every man the chance to vote, especially black men.