Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections

African Americans Annie E. Harper and Gladys Berry, who lived on Fordson Road in Gum Springs, and Curtis and Myrtle Burr, who had previously lived on Fordson Road, filed a federal lawsuit in March 1964 challenging Virginia’s poll tax, which residents had to pay before registering to vote in state elections. The case was later combined with a similar suit initiated by Evelyn Butts of Norfolk. A federal court ruled against the plaintiffs in Nov. 1964. On appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court determined in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections (1966) that the poll tax requirement in state elections violated the 14th Amendment, invalidating the tax in Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas.