On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson passed the Voting Rights Act. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 expanded the 14th and 15th amendments by banning racial discrimination in voting practices. The act was a response to the barriers that prevented African Americans from voting for nearly a century.
More information on Voting in the United States and Civil Rights:
Civil Rights in America: Racial Voting Rights
- In 1999 the U.S. Congress directed the National Park Service to conduct a multi-state study of civil right sites to determine the national significance of the sites and the appropriateness of including them in the National Park System.
Teaching with Historic Places, The Selma to Montomery Voting Rights March: Shaking the Conscience of the Nation
- Learn how people in Selma, Alabama and national civil rights organizations worked together to end the unconstitutional denial of voting rights to African Americans in the South.
Historic Trail, Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail
- Listen to the stories behind the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Civil Rights in America
- To live freely and participate in society is a right many take for granted. Achieving and maintaining those civil rights have been a struggle for different groups throughout U.S. history. Civil rights mean more than the protests of the 1950s and 1960s and reach beyond racial and ethnic groups.
