There were 15,000 black people living in Selma, Alabama. Do you know how many were registered to vote? 335. 335 out of 15,000. What was wrong with that? They couldn't pass the literacy test. They couldn't pass the questions that John Kennedy asked nominees for the federal courts. They couldn't explain what a letter of mark and reprisal was. And therefore they were denied the right to vote. That wasn't just in Selma. It was in the South. (01:43–01:52)
CLAIM
Asserts that literacy tests and complex questions were used to deny black people the right to vote.
This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.
