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The Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising...
Voting Rights Act, U.S. legislation (August 6, 1965) that aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) to the Constitution of the United States.
Congress responded with the Voting Rights Act, which suspended literacy tests and implemented other measures intended to eliminate voter-suppression efforts at state and local levels, particularly in the South.
Designed to enforce the voting rights protected by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the Act sought to secure the right to vote for racial minorities throughout the country, especially in the South.
What is the Voting Rights Act of 1965? Regarded as the legislative crown jewel of the civil rights era, the Voting Rights Act was enacted as a comprehensive tool meant to undo the political hold of Jim Crow policies in the South and related discriminatory structures nationwide.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was the most significant statutory change in the relationship between the federal and state governments in the area of voting since the Reconstruction period following the Civil War; and it was immediately challenged in the courts.
The most effective civil rights legislation in U.S. history has been upended by two recent Supreme Court decisions. States are moving to pass new voting restrictions nationwide.
The Voting Rights Act is a landmark federal law enacted in 1965 to remove race-based restrictions on voting. It is perhaps the country’s most important voting rights law, with a history that dates to the Civil War.
R47520. SUMMARY. The Voting Rights Act: Historical Development and Policy Background. The Voting Rights Act (VRA) is one of the most significant elections statutes ever enacted. The law prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or language-minority status in registration and voting nationwide.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965: In response to events in Selma and President Johnson‟s March 15 speech, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which aimed to eliminate voting restrictions that disenfranchised qualified voters, particularly in areas where there was a record of previous discrimination.