Like many Black Birmingham residents who came of age in the 1950s and 60s, Marian Haslem attended mass meetings during the Civil Rights Movement, where pastors preached the power of the vote as the path to equality.
Those messages, along with a push from her parents, led Haslem to face the discriminatory practices that kept many Black people off the voter rolls.
"My parents were not voters," Haslem said. "But I can remember my daddy saying, 'I want y’all to vote and I want to see you vote before I die.'"
With her family's encouragement, Haslem decided to become a voter. However, the state did not make it easy for her to register. Alabama required Black applicants to pay a poll tax and pass a literacy test. Given that African Americans were disproportionately poorer, many couldn't afford the tax. The tests were designed to be intentionally difficult or they asked arbitrary questions. Both were effective in keeping Black people from voting.
Haslem made multiple attempts to register.
"I never went with the expectation I would pass because I was always rejected," she said.
On her fourth attempt, she passed.
"It blew my mind."
To memorialize the event, she kept her copy of the poll tax receipt and even had it framed. Now, she uses that paperwork to teach the power of the vote to three generations of her family.
"I’ve seen that vote work when I saw my president," Haslem said. "When I saw Obama, I saw that vote. And I know then, there’s always hope."
This November when she and her family go to vote, they’ll be wearing black t-shirts emblazoned with the image of Marian Haslem’s Alabama poll tax receipt. It's dated January 31, 1964, the day she finally passed the literacy test.
Those discriminatory tactics have been banned, but Haslam said her experience serves as a charge for people today.
"I do want you to vote because there was a time when we couldn't even vote."