Tying the ability to read and write with the vote was no accident. After the 1954 Brown decision, Virginia led the effort to make the Supreme Court decision to end segregation in the public schools unenforceable. Lawmakers shut down school districts throughout the state, funneled tax dollars into all-white private academies for white children, and left black children high and dry. This went on for years. Then, after depriving black people of education, the state changed its laws so that those who were illiterate would not be able to vote.
