Page 7 - Bulldogs Declassified Final

Photo Credit: Erica Fox Washington

-On August 6, 1965, in the presence of Dr. King and other Civil Rights leaders, President Johnson
signed the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965. The VRA was signed into law despite the fact that
every member of Alabama’s Congressional Delegation voted against it. It is described by the
Department of Justice (2013) as being “among the most far-reaching pieces of legislation in U.S.
history.” The VRA defeated existing barriers being levied at the state and local levels to prevent
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Blacks from exercising the constitutional right to vote under the 15 Amendment (Foster, 1985).
The 1965 VRA is one of the most important civil rights laws in the history of the United States of
America. Not only did it create a significant change in the status of African Americans throughout
the South, it prohibited the states from using literacy tests and other methods of excluding African
Americans from voting. Prior to this, only an estimated twenty-three percent of voting-age African
Americans were registered nationally, but by 1969 the number jumped to sixty-one percent
(Library of Congress accessible via https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/elections/right-to-
vote/voting-rights-for-african-americans/).

-In the 1970s, voting materials were made available in multiple languages. The voting age was
lowered to 18. The federal Voting Rights Act was renewed, permanently banning literacy tests
nationwide.

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