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The Voting Rights Act (VRA) Of 1965

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The Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 was a significant part of black America. It opened doors to many black Americans to vote after years of discriminatory and violent acts laid upon them. However, this does not lead to permanent change, only temporary. Black America in the 1960s continue to struggle with state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote, despite being guaranteed under the 15th amendment. The VRA sought to eliminate obstacles to voting that prohibits any insinuation of racial discrimination. These obstacles vary from invalidating any literacy test or device that denies voting, or the dreaded poll tax. In addition, the VRA’s operation brought positive changes to many racial minorities’ …show more content…

Part of the VRA’s goal was to end aggravated violence among the black and white community. Examples of such unrestrained violence are elaborated in text, describing the events of what took place during the Selma to Montgomery march, quoting, “The state troopers and Clark’s posse chased and beat the fleeing marchers all the way back to the Brown Chapel.” State troopers and county possemen attacked the unarmed marchers with tear gas and billy clubs. This event became known as “Bloody Sunday.” Another example of exacerbated violence was “the murder of the white Detroit housewife Viola Liuzzo, a thirty-nine-year-old mother of five gunned down on Route 80 by Alabama Klansmen after she had attended the Selma to Montgomery …show more content…

This was especially the case from the more conservative states under the Republican Party, that tried to curb voting rights with extreme levels of escalation in passing of laws-making it harder to vote. The deep South had made the same argument before in the Supreme Court when they unsuccessfully challenged the constitutionality of the VRA in 1966. When the first presidential candidate, Ronald Reagan, kicked off his election campaign, he announced his support for states’ rights, ultimately, disparaging the VRA. Furthermore, Reagan gained massive support from white segregationists and devoted himself in restoring the states and local communities as they were prior. As Berman quotes, “Is Reagan saying that he intends to do everything he can to turn the clock back to the Mississippi justice of 1964?” This fundamentally means that even the highest power of authority can denounce the exercise the right to vote, in spite of what is moral or

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Even if individuals could read the administrator in charge could create impossible questions for an individual to answer before being able to register. With the Voting Rights Act of 1965 the literacy test and any discriminatory voting, practices were outlawed as prerequisites of voting. The 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 enforced this amendment. The 19th amendment granted women the right to vote.

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After the march the right for African Americans to vote in the south was becoming possible for them. Later, August 6,1965. The president signed a law, Voting Rights Act of 1965, stating the southern states must stop their practice of discrimination and not allowing African Americans to vote. James Meredith’s March Against Fear affected the present and future non-segregation between blacks and

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We see multiple successes of voting equality attempted through amendments, however, the Supreme Court’s decision on Shelby County v. Holder has pushed back years and years of effort for voting rights. Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling was in Shelby County’s favor, stating that the Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional along with Section 5. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr, who wrote the majority’s opinion, said that the power to regulate election was reserved to the states, not the federal government. As a result to the court’s decision, the federal government can no longer determine which voting law discriminates and can be passed. After the case, many states had freely passed new voting laws; the most common voting law states passed

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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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