Poll Tax Payment Certificate from the state of Alabama
date: label: Date
content: January 29, 1966
name: label: Issued by
content: United States Civil Service Commission, American, 1871 - 1979
label: Received by
content: Alice Irby, American, 1928 - 2013
notes: label: Caption
content: Along with literacy tests, property or residency requirements, poll taxes were one of the methods used to prevent African Americans from voting beginning in the last quarter of the 19th century. After the Fifteenth Amendment enabled the right to vote to African Americans a number of states enacted poll tax laws as a legal method to restrict voting rights. The poll tax was especially effective in disenfranchising potential black voters since African Americans made up a disproportionate number of the poor who could not afford to pay.
label: Description
content: A poll tax certificate issued to Alice Irby of Selma, Alabama by the United States Civil Service Commission, Voting Rights Act of 1965. The page is white paper with black printed ink text and fields. The fields have been filled in by hand in blue ink. The top of the certificate reads: [United States Civil Service Commission / Voting Rights Act of 1965 / Poll Tax Payment Certificate / State of Alabama]. The certificate recognizes that Irby paid the three dollar poll tax in order to vote and is signed by John H. Craig, Examiner, U.S. Civil Service Commission on January 29, 1966. The back of the certificate is blank.
place: label: Place depicted
content: Selma, Dallas County, Alabama, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Civil Rights
label: Topic
content: Politics
label: Topic
content: Race discrimination
label: Topic
content: Suffrage
label: Topic
content: U.S. History, 1961-1969
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Documents and Manuscripts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from the Family of Alice Irby
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2017.65
objectType: label: Type
content: certificates
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: No Known Copyright Restrictions
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: ink on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 6 1/2 × 9 1/16 in. (16.5 × 23 cm)