Voting Rights Act Signed: Racial Barriers Fall
President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965, with Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks standing behind him. The law banned literacy tests, poll taxes, and other devices that Southern states had used for decades to prevent Black citizens from voting. It authorized federal registrars to enroll voters directly in counties where less than 50% of eligible minorities were registered. Within a year, 250,000 new Black voters had registered in the South. In Mississippi alone, Black voter registration jumped from 6.7% to 59.8% within three years. The Act is widely considered the most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever passed, fundamentally reshaping the electoral map of the American South.
August 6, 1965
61 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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