Essay On The Voting Rights Act Of 1965

The 15th amendment gave African American men the right to vote by saying that the” right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Sadly, African American men wouldn’t be able to exercise this right for almost a whole century. Using literacy tests, poll taxes, and other methods Southern states could prevent African Americans from voting. It took the passing of Voting Rights Act of 1965 before most African Americans in the South could vote. Woman went

The United States first began to deal with the issue of voter suppression during the Reconstruction. During Reconstruction freed slaves earned their right to vote and hold office through the fifteenth amendment in 1870. In 1877, Democrats, known as Dixiecrats, began to impose laws that were designed to suppress the African American vote or better known as Jim Crow Laws. The Jim Crow voting laws required the freedmen to pass literacy tests that they were unable to pass because of no formal education because of their status of slaves. Many states created poll taxes, which many poor Americans, white and black, were unable to pay. Many precincts made their voting precincts “white only” so that blacks would have nowhere to cast their votes. The Jim Crow voter suppression tactics were so successful that only three percent of African Americans in the south were registered to vote in 1940. Although African American males were given the right to vote in

Most change can be caused by people or something with significant value. Occasionally people forget that change can also be caused by pieces of paper. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a law passed that primarily gave African Americans the right to vote without having to take any sort of literacy tests. African Americans were widely ignored in voting rights because they were forced to take literacy tests to be eligible to vote. Having this event in our nation’s civil rights movement was a landmark that allowed the other half of our nation’s voice to be heard. “The Voting Rights Act itself has been called the single most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever passed by Congress.”(Laney 65)

Despite what many might think, the voting rights act of 1965 is well known across hundreds of nations all over the world. The voting rights act of 1965 has been around for several centuries and has a very important meaning in the lives of many. This act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on August 6, 1965. He aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th amendment to the Constitution of the United States. It is a landmark piece of federal legislation that prohibits this racial discrimination. This document is just as big and important as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. It would be safe to assume that voting rights act of 1965 is going to be around for a long time and will have an enormous impact on the lives of many people in times to come. The voting acts of 1965 created positive and negative changes for America. But, why was this law created, when was it put into effect, and what effect did it have on the U.S.?

However, there was no law to restrict black American citizens from voting the American citizens saw fit to take it upon themselves to deny them the right to vote. Prior to the vigilantes, the government installed a literacy test for the purpose of determining whether one meets the requirements set by the government, “Literacy tests were used to keep people of color and, sometimes, poor whites from voting.” (The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow). Creating a situation where only the smartest could pass a test, including questions about government, office, and congress. Unfortunately, if an unwanted citizen passed, they were on many an occasion failed anyway, still, if you managed to pass you would have been forced to pay a poll tax that many African American citizens could not afford. If against all odds that you managed to pay and pass the poll tax and literacy test, you would then be confronted by many white vigilantes ‘warning’ you not to vote. The Jim Crow laws caused many a problem in numerous lives, however, through it all, people prevailed and Jim Crow laws were revoked from all states and were

“The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting.” In the 1880’s poll taxes and literacy requirements that afterward advocated African Americans to vote. Meanwhile Klan violence frightens from police and employers, blacks were still “protesting”about voting rights. As a result, there were over two dozen blacks serving in state congress across some

My research topic is the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and I chose this topic because I always found it amusing that it took so long for African Americans to legally be allowed to vote. I also thought this topic was appropriate since we now have an African American president, and the African Americans citizens need to know that voting I important because we didn’t always have that right.

The Voting Rights act of 1965 was established on August 6, 1965. This law was set to outlaw discrimination of voting practices adopted in many Southern States after the civil war, including literary test as a prerequisite to voting. The act was signed into law by former president Lyndon Johnson after a century of deliberate and violent denial of the vote to African- Americans in the South and latinos in the Southwest as well as many years of entrenched electoral systems that shut out citizens with limited fluency in english. The voting Rights act of 1965 has traced back to the 14th and 15th Amendment where it grants citizenships to all persons born in the united states including former slaves and provided all citizens with equal protection

Throughout America’s history the franchise has been withheld from different groups. This has been possible due to weakly written laws that do not provide adequate protections. In 1965 PL 89-110 was passed, this law, commonly known as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, finally provided real protections for minorities living in southern states. In recent years the language of the law was modified within the Supreme Court to take away the law’s primary power. In the following mock Congressional testimony we will go back to 1848, 13 years before the American Civil War, and provide evidence of why a law like PL 89-110 is necessary and commendable.

McPherson wrote, “At the beginning of 1867 no black man could vote in the South, a year later they were a majority of registered voters in several ex-Confederate states.” Also adding to this evidence is the fact that four years after the war blacks held 15 percent of southern offices.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 signed into law by President Lyndon B Johnson, this was to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented Africans-Americans from voting under the fifteenth amendment. The VRA gave African-Americans the right to vote and stating that people are not allowed to do anything to the people of different color or race while they are trying to vote, or forcing them to not vote. The fifteenth amendment was to prohibit states from denying a male citizen the right to vote based on race, or color; Still people who do not agree with this were trying to prevent African-Americans from voting.

In the race of the presidency of 1964, Johnson was chosen in a victory and used this to push for legislation he believed would help the American way of life, to gain more voting-rights laws. After the Civil War, which happened between the years 1861 through 1865, the 15th amendment, was changed in the 1870, which prevented states from denying a man citizen the right to vote based on race, color or any conditional origin, if he wasn't white. But years passed on, some discriminatory reasons were used to prohibit African Americans, especially from the South, from their right to vote. During the Civil rights movement of the years 1950s and 1960s, the voting rights activists in the South were put through forms of poor treatment and violence. One very significant event that happened on March 7th, 1965 when participants very peaceful in a voting rights march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital in Montgomery were met up by Alabama troopers who attacked them with weapons. Some of the people were beaten up and some ran from their lives. In that tragedy incident, Johnson called for inclusive voting rights legislation. In a speech of session of Congress in

The past voting rights for African Americans have improved from 1870. The African American community had to fight and work very hard though to get these rights. They had to work though many things like jim crow laws to get their rights. They went from not being able to vote the first black president in American history. The history of the African American voting rights have changed a lot over the years but it was not easy.

When Congress passed the fifteenth amendment African Americans were given the right to vote, however state legislatures created laws to deter the undesirable vote from African Americans. The country sediment was to not have any undesirable or what they considered non American people voting. That is why when the Civil Rights Act of 1866 passes, it granted citizenship not rights to vote. Children of immigrants were also not considered qualified to vote. This society felt that the only eligible voters should be American men, because they considered themselves as superior and denied immigrants, blacks and women to vote to uphold social hierarchy. Each state varied in voter prerequisites and while there was not a specific guideline, there were restrictions to exclude certain members of

The Voting Rights Act 42 U.S.C. §§ 1973 et seq., decision is important regarding the laws governing voting rights and their relationship to minority voters. Its implication and effects however does not end within the legal realms and dimensions but continues through to society, culture, and human rights. The Voting Rights Act initially established in 1965 under Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration protected “racial minorities” from biased voting practices. It was a huge stride in the civil rights movement and a victory over harmful, archaic, and biased voting practices and traditions.