CONTENT WARNING
Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation.
Context
Despite the ratification of both the Fifteenth and Nineteenth Amendments that granted all adult citizens in the United States the right to vote, many eligible Black voters in southern states were systematically blocked from participating in the political process. Virginia and other states had “literacy test” requirements that allowed registrars to issue tests to Black applicants that were impossible to pass. Virginia's state constitution also required payment of poll taxes. The poll tax accrued every three years, making it difficult for many Black citizens to vote since they often earned less money than whites in the racially stratified economy. The poll tax kept anyone of any race from the polls if that person could not afford the tax. The Twenty-fourth Amendment, ratified in 1964, eliminated poll taxes for federal elections, and the 1966 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections declared that state poll taxes were unconstitutional. The Voting Rights Act passed by Congress in 1965 outlawed literacy tests and other restrictions. These federal actions enabled many Black Americans to vote for the first time.
On order to get out the vote, organizations in Black communities promoted registration drives. This document was produced by the Richmond branch of the National Welfare Rights Organization, which had more than 20,000 members nationwide, most of whom were Black women. The broadside uses the image of civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who fought not just for an end to desegregation, but also for economic justice for the poor. This local group invoked the image of King as a symbol of resistance, but also of the importance of political participation, which he also advocated. The accompanying offer to drive voters to registration places reflects the NWRO’s understanding that many poor Black Richmonders likely did not have the means or time to get to the registrar’s office themselves.
Citation: Honor Dr. King. Richmond, Va.: Richmond Welfare Rights Organization, 1970. Broadside 1970 .H6 FF, Manuscripts & Special Collections, Library of Virginia.
Related Document Bank entry:
Evelyn Butts Challenged the Poll Tax, Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk), 1966
Learn more about voter registration in Shaping the Constitution.
Definition: Broadsides are posters announcing events or proclamations, or simply advertisements.
Standards
Social Studies: VS.1, VS.8, VS.9, USII.1, USII.3, USII.4, USII.9, CE.1, CE.3, VUS.1, VUS.7, VUS.14, GOVT.1, GOVT.18, GOVT.19
Art: 4.1, 5.1
Suggested Questions
Preview Activity
Look at It: Look at the broadside, what might have been the intent of this broadside poster?
Post Activities
Analyze: Civil Rights icon and leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated two years before this poster was printed. To what extent is using his name important in the drive for voter registration?
Artistic Exploration: Make a voting registration poster with the image of a notable person. Who did you choose and why?