Literacy tests were used to keep people of color -- and, sometimes, poor whites -- from voting, and they were administered at the discretion of the officials in

Literacy tests were used to keep people of color -- and, sometimes, poor whites -- from voting, and they were administered at the discretion of the officials in charge of voter registration. If the official wanted a person to pass, he could ask the easiest question on the test -- for example, "Who is the president of the United States?" The same official might require a black person to answer every single question correctly, in an unrealistic amount of time, in order to pass. -- From https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/jimcrow/voting_literacy.html https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/jimcrow/voting_literacy.html