American government help!!!?

Question

what were grandfather clauses?

How did they discriminnate against African Americans?

Answer 1

I don't know about the specific incident in history that you are referring to, but the expression "grandfather clause" is used today to mean that someone who is already in a certain profession or situation does not need to meet the same requirements as someone who is a new applicant.

Example - A company decides that all employees in a specific job must have a Bachelor's Degree, however, those who were hired before a certain date do not have to go back and get the degree if they were hired without it, and thus are "grandfathered" into the program.

Answer 2

In the post-reconstruction south grandfather clauses were ridiculous rules to keep blacks from voting.    Many southern states required poll taxes to be paid or literacy tests to be passed before one could vote.  But if applied to every voter, that meant poor uneducated whites could not vote.   So an exception was put into the laws for anyone whose grandfather had been an eligible voter.   If your 'grandfather' had been eligible to vote, then you did not have to pay the poll tax or pass the literacy test.  You would have been 'grandfathered' in and would not have to comply with the law.  The result was third generation whites could vote without paying the tax or passing the test, but blacks (whose grandparents would have been slaves), immigrants and native Americans could not vote unless they paid the tax and passed the test.  

The term "Grandfather clause" survives today anytime a new rule or law goes into effect but exempts enforcement for those already participating.  For example a new law might disallow a liquor license for an Establishment within 1000 feet of a school or church.  But if a bar already existed within the 1000 foot limit when the law was passed, they may be allowed to remain - hence 'grandfathered in' .

Answer 3

Grandfather clauses are a generic term used in changing laws.

You'll have to be more specific in what you're asking.