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The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a law of the United States. It made it easier for African-Americans and non-English speaking citizens to vote. In some parts of the United States, people were forced to pay a poll tax or take a literacy test before being allowed to vote. This process kept many African-Americans from voting. The Voting Rights Act made all of those practices illegal.
President Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks at the signing of the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965
President George W. Bush signs amendments to the Act in July 2006
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The first page of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
States and counties encompassed by the Act's coverage formula in January 2008 (excluding bailed-out jurisdictions). Several counties subsequently bailed out, but the majority of the map accurately depicts covered jurisdictions before the Supreme Court's decision in Shelby County v. Holder (2013), which declared the coverage formula unconstitutional.
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Final page of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the Senate Hubert Humphrey, and Speaker of the House John McCormack
