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Dbq Civil Rights Act Of 1965

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The civil rights movement was aimed at equal rights, with a primary focus on securing rights for the African American community. For an extended period, discrimination was rampant in various aspects of American life, including voting, employment, law, and public spaces. However, this pervasive injustice persisted until individuals made the conscious decision to take charge and actively fight for their fundamental rights as human beings in the United States. This sparked a period marked by protests, outspoken leaders, and transformative historical shifts that left a lasting impact on every subsequent generation. Initially, voting rights were exclusively granted to white men who owned land. Over time, the requirement of land ownership for voting rights was abolished. Eventually, the Fifteenth Amendment was passed and it …show more content…

African American men faced the hurdles of literacy tests and poll taxes, which, although they possessed the legal right to vote, served as significant obstacles, greatly impeding their ability to participate in the electoral process. Document 5 -. Portions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 state that, “No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.” This act removed the power of the states to deny voting rights to their citizens based on race, representing a significant milestone in the march toward equality. States made efforts to maintain segregation by unfairly arresting individuals solely based on their race. In the Excerpt from Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. he states, “These are just a few examples of unjust and just laws. There are some instances when a law is just on its face and unjust in its

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On July 02, 1964 , Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibited against people discriminating against another because of their skin color , so everybody was treated equally. L.B.J he became president after John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22nd, 1963 and L.B.J took office the next day. He finished what J.F.K wanted and signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Political means some did it for votes or for something and principle means the person did something because it was the right thing to do. Why did L.B.J sign it was, it a political decision or was it a principle decision?

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The fifteen amendment of the United States Constitution prohibit the federal and state government from denying the citizens the right to vote, based on that citizen’s race, color or previous condition of servitude. The fifteen Amendments finally gave the African American the right to vote, but also allowed them to be able to elect into public office. Although ratified on February 3, 1870, the promises if the 15 amendment would not fully realized for almost a century, thought the used of poll taxes, literacy test and other means. Southern states were able to effectively disenfranchise African American. Current controversies over the right to vote can be divided into two types of claims.

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During this time African Americans were given the right to vote, if you were male, and citizenship. However, the federal government and state governments limited these right in every they legally could. States cheated black voters in a variety of ways, from poll taxes, to holding white-only primary elections, to unreasonably difficult

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810 Words | 4 Pages

The Fifteenth Amendment, which was ratified February 3, 1870, states 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.” By dodging around the Amendment, people still found ways to disclude African Americans from voting. According to Document L, “Denying black men the right to vote through legal maneuvering and violence was a first step in taking away their civil rights. Beginning in 1890s, southern states enacted literacy tests... The laws proved very effective.

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826 Words | 4 Pages

What is the price of equality? For some groups in America, it came naturally. However, many minority groups had to sacrifice a great deal in order to achieve what many were given for free. In order to achieve the freedom that they so desired, African Americans used mass community involvement and governmental policy change to achieve equal rights. When looking at this movement, it is important to consider what force had the largest impact on bringing this revolution.

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484 Words | 2 Pages

Preceding the Civil War, people of color, especially African Americans were practically disenfranchised everywhere throughout all fifty states of the United States. The ratification of the fifteenth amendment in the Constitution gave all men, regardless of race, color, or previous state of servitude the right to vote. Even with the enactment of the fifteenth amendment, many states used numerous techniques to prevent people of color from voting. The obstacles that prevented Africans Americans from casting a ballot ranged from literacy tests, poll taxes, the grandfather clause, intimidation, threats, and even violence.

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563 Words | 3 Pages

The 15th Amendment (Amendment XV), which gave African-American men the right to vote, was inserted into the U.S. Constitution on March 30, 1870. Passed by Congress the year before, the amendment says, “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.” Although the amendment was passed in the late 1870s, many racist practices were used to oppose African-Americans from voting, especially in the Southern States like Georgia and Alabama. After many years of racism, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to overthrow legal barricades at the state and local levels that deny African-Americans their right to vote. In the

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565 Words | 3 Pages

Post Civil War, freed slaves were not allowed to vote. The democratic republic of America excluded black people entirely from its system of voting and lawmaking until the 15th Amendment was ratified on February 3, 1870. When black people were, by law, allowed to take part in democratic votes, they were still kept from doing so. The governments of many states, most of which were Southern, used poll taxes and literacy tests to keep black people from being able to vote. Those who passed these tests were threatened with violence from individuals if they decided to exercise their right to vote, which effectively disenfranchised the entire race (Fifteenth Amendment).

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The Civil Rights Movement was one of the most significant turning points in American history. This was a social justice movement in the 20th century that was supported by a diverse affiliation of individuals and organizations. This included black activists, civil rights groups, and labor unions, which through the use of nonviolent protests and other means fought rightfully against racial segregation and discrimination, which was supported by segregationists, white supremacists, and conservative politicians. The civil rights movement achieved several significant short-term and long-term successes, which have now led to the America that we see today, however, the fight for equality is still not over for people of color in this country.

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385 Words | 2 Pages

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of civil rights legislation that was enacted to protect the voting rights of African Americans and other minority groups. The law was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965, and has been credited with increasing the political power and representation of minority groups in the United States. This essay will explore the background, significance, and impact of the Voting Rights Act, as well as the current challenges and controversies surrounding the law. Prior to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, voting rights were often denied to African Americans and other minority groups through a variety of discriminatory practices, including literacy tests, poll taxes, and other measures.

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1063 Words | 5 Pages

The reality for many African Americans was that they were being prevented from exercising their right to vote and faced violence in order to prevent them from doing so. Some of the most common tactics used against them were lynching and getting shot. The 15th Amendment gave former slaves the right to vote, but only for the men. Although this amendment was difficult to enforce at the time. As W.E.B. DuBois has stated, “The slave went free; stood for a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.”

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933 Words | 4 Pages

After the war, though the Fourteenth Amendment granted African Americans the rights of citizenship, it didn’t automatically translate into the ability to vote, and normally, after the war, African Americans found themselves systematically turned away from state polling places. And though, to combat said problem, the Fifteenth Amendment was passed, allowing African Americans to vote no matter their race, color, or previous servitude, some states still found a way to circumvent the Constitution and prevent those of color from voting. That way being the “implication” of poll taxes, which required African Americans to pay to vote, literacy tests, which required the African Americans to be ‘literate” as well as serving as a way to “prove intelligence,” the grandfather clause, which kept descendants of slaves out of elections, unless it could be proved that one's grandfather had voted, and intimidation—-all used to prevent African Americans from

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559 Words | 3 Pages

(Amend. XV, Section 1). Still, many people were denied the right to vote. Literacy tests were created (Laney). Voting complexes were far away from the black population (Laney).

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1821 Words | 8 Pages

Even though the government adopted the Voting Rights Act in 1965, African Americans’ suffrages were still restricted because of southern states’ obstructions. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was important for blacks to participate in political elections, but before this act was passed, there were several events led to its proposal. The government gave African Americans’ the right to vote by passing the 15th Amendment, but in the Southern States, blacks’ suffrages were limited by grandfather clauses, “poll taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions” (ourdocuments.gov). As times went on, most African Americans couldn’t register their votes.

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1168 Words | 5 Pages

The Constitution does not explicitly grant the right to vote. Instead, it gives states the authority to decide on voting procedures. The 15th, 19th, and 26th Amendments to the Constitution, which deal with voting, forbid discrimination based on statuses including race, ethnicity, sex, and age. According to the changes, if a state offers voting rights to one group of individuals, it cannot deny those rights to other groups of people. Black Americans were making progress; they were extremely near to obtaining the right to vote, but they still had to overcome a few more obstacles before obtaining their fundamental human

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