The history of Black voter suppression in the United States is a deeply ingrained legacy that has shaped the nation's political landscape. From the days of Jim Crow laws to modern tactics like gerrymandering and voter ID requirements, efforts to disenfranchise Black voters have evolved but remain persistent. The journey of Black Americans reflects their enduring struggle for the right to vote, the strides made, and the significant challenges that persist.

After the Civil War, the 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870, granting Black men the right to vote–not women. However, this legal victory was quickly undermined by the rise of Jim Crow laws across the South. These laws were designed to maintain white supremacy by systematically stripping Black citizens of their voting rights through tactics such as literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses. The notorious "white primary" system further entrenched racial discrimination by allowing only white voters to participate in primary elections, effectively excluding Black voices from the political process.

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s marked a turning point. Activists like Fannie Lou Hamer, a sharecropper from Mississippi, played a crucial role in challenging these injustices. Hamer co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) in 1964 to challenge the all-white delegation at the Democratic National Convention. Her powerful testimony about the violence and intimidation she faced for trying to register to vote became a rallying cry for the movement. The Voting Rights Act became law in 1965, which aimed to eliminate many of the barriers to enfranchisement, but the struggle for equal voting rights was far from over.