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Voting Rights Act Research Paper

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My name is Steven Miller. I am from Pembroke, North Carolina and I am a sophomore attending the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. I am writing to you today to explain why the Voting Rights Act is necessary and why it is worth protecting. The Voting Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson (1908-73) on August 6, 1965. It was 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 (1870) to the Constitution of the United States. The act significantly widened the franchise and is considered among the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history. Many people look back to the civil rights movement to see people like to see people like Martin Luther King, and Robert Williams and so many others that wanted to see change for minorities in America. They fought for their rights every day of their lives like so many others and …show more content…

Voting is such a huge thing because you want to be able to have a say in who you think should run things based on if they win or not. Especially if that person has the power to change what happens around you. The U.S. Government claimed they listen to what many African Americans and minorities had to say about what was happening in America because it was pretty clear that America had a problem. A guy named Robert Williams mentions in his 1965 speech by calling America “Racist America”. He states that so many African American are terrorized, murdered, maimed, bombed, lynched, raped, starved, sterilized by the states and imprisoned. He also stated that “The so-called U.S. Civil Rights Bill, allegedly guaranteeing rights to colored people is a farce of the first magnitude. The Constitution of our country guarantees all people

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On March 15, 1965, Lyndon Baines Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress to urge the passage of the Voting Rights Act and outlined his plans for supporting voting rights. In his speech, Johnson not only advocated policy, he borrowed the language of the civil rights movement, and he represents a key moment in the civil rights movement as well as a culturally significant speech in American letters and he tied the movement to American history. This message was addressed to the presidency and the members of the congress.

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