Which set of practices served to legitimize the disenfranchisement of African Americans in the southern states, including literacy tests?

The correct answer is Jim Crow Laws, which were a collection of state and local statutes enacted primarily in the southern United States from the late 19th century until the mid-20th century. These laws institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans, effectively disenfranchising them through various legal and social means.

Literacy tests, along with other practices such as poll taxes and understanding clauses, were implemented as parts of these laws to restrict voting rights specifically for African Americans and, in some cases, poor white voters. These measures were framed as necessary to ensure the integrity of the electoral process, but they were designed explicitly to suppress the African American vote and maintain white supremacy.

While grandfather clauses, segregation laws, and discrimination laws are related to the broader context of racial inequality and disenfranchisement, they are not as encompassing as Jim Crow Laws. Grandfather clauses, for example, allowed individuals to bypass literacy tests if their ancestors had voting rights before the Civil War, which still tied back to the Jim Crow framework. Segregation laws focused on separating races in public spaces and did not directly impact voting rights in the same way. Discrimination laws is a more general term and lacks specificity about the legal framework established to disenfranchise African