✊🏿ap african american studies review

Grandfather clause

Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated August 2025
Verified for the 2027 exam
Verified for the 2027 examWritten by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated August 2025

Definition

A voting qualification that allowed individuals to vote if their grandfather had been eligible to vote, used to disenfranchise Black voters while exempting poor white voters.

AP course connection

Topic 3.4: 3.4 The Defeat of Reconstruction

Unit 3

"Grandfather clause" also found in:

Subjects (1)