Download The Voting Rights Act of 1965: The Responsibility of Ensuring A

The Voting Rights Act of 1965:
The Responsibility of Ensuring A Voice In
Our Democracy
Cameron Kalaukoa
Junior Division
Historical Paper
1 “Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. There is no reason which can excuse
the denial of that right. There is no duty which weighs more heavily on us than the duty we have
to ensure that right.” Lyndon B. Johnson, Special Message To Congress: The American Promise, March 15, 1965
Until the Fifteenth Amendment was signed into law, Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution
was the only law that said anything about who could vote or how voting was to be done. The
law states, "The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second
Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the qualifications
requisite for electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.”1 This meant that
the people of the states could vote for their representatives. The Founding Fathers had left out who
could vote and how voting would be done. Who got to vote was left to the States to decide. The
result was many people were not allowed to vote, and in some states, even men could not vote if
they did not pass a religious test. By 1811, most religious requirements for voting were removed
and by 1844 many states opened voting to “…free, white male citizen… of the age of twenty-one
years…with property.”2 African Americans were not allowed to vote because most were slaves
and those who were not slaves could not vote because they needed to have property. After the
Civil War, the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments gave African Americans their freedom,
citizenship and due process of law, and the Fifteenth Amendment gave them the right to vote.
The Fifteent Amendment states, “The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not
be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State on account of race, color, or previous
1 "U.S. Constitution : Article I." Avalon Project ‐ U.S. Constitution : Article I. The Lillian Goldman Law Library Yale University, 1 Jan. 2008. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/art1.asp>.” 2 "1844 State Constitution." New Jersey Department of State. State of New Jersey Department of State, 1 Jan. 2011. Web. 27 Jan. 2014. <http://www.nj.gov/state/archives/docconst44.html#art2>. 2 condition of servitude.”3 The Fifteenth Amendment allowed blacks to vote, but many states
in the South found ways to stop blacks from voting.
Although the Fifteenth amendment gave African Americans the legal right to vote, the
U.S government failed in their responsibility to follow through on guaranteeing this right.
The responsible actions taken by the U.S. Supreme Court, The U.S. Congress, President
Lyndon B. Johnson, and key civil rights leaders including Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., led
to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that made sure the states followed the Fifteenth Amendment,
prevented discrimination in our voting system, and guaranteed all American’s have a voice in
our democracy.
RULING IN FAVOR OF THE RIGHT TO VOTE
At the same time the Civil War Amendments allowed African American's the right to vote,
Reconstruction was taking place in the South. White southern Democrats were not allowed to
vote because they had “…taken arms against their own nation…”4, African Americans, mostly
Republicans could vote and many were elected to their state legislatures. As elected leaders, they
worked to protect voting rights. But as early as 1871, as soon as southern Democrats got
back their power and positions in their legislatures, they put up barriers to stop
African Americans from voting. South Carolina Senator Benjamin R. Tillman’s speech before
the U.S. Senate in 1900 stated the feelings of the majority of whites in the south when he
said, “We of the South have never recognized the right of the Negro to govern white men, and
3 "Primary Documents in American History." 15th Amendment to the Constitution: Primary Documents of American History (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress). Web. 15 Dec. 2013. <http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/15thamendment.html>. 4 Barton, David. "The History of Black Voting Rights." Free Republic, 5 Mar. 2003. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. <http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1072053/posts> 3 we never will. We have never believed him to be equal to the white man...”5 Southern states
proved Tillman’s statement true. They ignored the voting laws and put in place many barriers
to prevent African American voter participation, including poll taxes and literacy tests.
Key U.S. Supreme Court cases that happened after the Fifteenth Amendment supported
ending literacy tests, poll taxes, and other “legal” actions that denied African Americans the right
to vote. Southern states were using "Grandfather clauses" to allow voter restriction laws put in
place before the Fifteenth Amendment that stopped African Americans from voting. In 1915, the
Supreme Court ruling on Guinn v. United States, stated Grandfather clauses that included
literacy tests for all except those whose grandfathers could vote before 1866 were unconstitutional.
But, states still ignored the ruling and the literacy tests were still being used to disenfranchise Blacks.
In Smith v. Allwright, 1944, the US Supreme Court ruled that Texas’ Democratic Party.
could not restrict membership to whites only and stop blacks from voting in the party’s primary.
In 1946, President Truman created a National Committee on Civil Rights that called for the end of
poll taxes and for federal action to protect the voting rights of African Americans and Native
Americans. But southern lawmakers continued to fight against the black vote. In his Democratic
Primary speech in 1946, Mississippi Senator Theodore Bilbo made his view against the black
right to vote clear. Bilbo ranted, “If you let a handful [blacks] go to the polls, …there will be two
handfuls in 1947, and …it will grow into a mighty surge…The white people are sitting on a
volcano, and its up to you red-blooded men to do something about it.”6 Bilbo’s speech matched the
feelings of southern whites against the black vote. But the Supreme Court rulings were beginning
5 Purday, Richard. Document sets for the South in U.S. history. (Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath, 1991): 147. 6 May, Gary. Bending toward justice: the Voting Rights Act and the transformation of American democracy. (New York: Basic Books, 2013): 32. 4 to show success. Based on the data on black voter participation between 1940 and 1947,
"Southern Blacks that were registered to vote rose from 3% to 12%.”7
At the end of the 1950s, seven Southern states including Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana,
Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia were still using literacy tests to keep
blacks from voting. Five states including Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia
also used poll taxes to prevent blacks from registering. In Alabama, voters had to write the
answers to a twenty-page test on the Constitution and on state and local government.
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 did help to make states follow the Fifteenth Amendment.
The Commission on Civil Rights was created and the U.S. Department of Justice was able to get
sanctions and file law suits for voting rights violations. The law showed some success. African
American voting registrations grew from “24.5% in 1956 to 29% in 1960”.8 But discriminatory
practices and creating fear in African American voters still existed in the counties and states in the
south. According to the 1961 Commission on Civil Rights, strategies to prevent voting included
losing registration forms, rejecting registration for spelling mistakes, and intimidation like that in
“Monroe County [AL], where the Ku Klux Klan has been active, both whites and Negroes
agreed that Negroes are threatened with loss of jobs and with physical violence, if they seek to
register”.9
The Supreme Court continued to rule in favor of the vote for African Americans finding
that literacy tests were illegal in areas where schools had been segregated. Laws that were made
to limit voting to people who had property, paid taxes, or were long time residents were found
unconstitutional. The 1962 Baker v. Carr decision did more to remove voting discrimination.
7 Garrow, David J. Protest at Selma: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Voting rights act of 1965. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1978): 7. 8 Garrow, David J.. Protest at Selma: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Voting rights act of 1965. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1978): 11. 9 Voting, 1961 United States Commission on Civil Rights report. [Washington: U.S. G.P.O.], 1961]: 47. 5 The court said, “…congressional districts would be of equal size so that one district in a state
could not have more electoral power than another congressional district in that same state.”10
The decision followed the U.S. Constitution census requirements that made sure citizens were
accurately counted for equal respresentation. The Supreme Court ruling supported the
principle of “one-man, one-vote”. Civil Rights activist John Lewis repeated this principle in his
speech in the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In response to President
Kennedy’s civil rights bill that required an individual to have at least an elementary education to
vote, Lewis states, “The Voting section of this bill will not help the thousands of black people
who want to vote…who are qualified to vote but lack a sixth grade education. ‘One Man, one
vote’…It must be ours.”11
ACT TO GET THE VOTE
Between 1963 and 1965 the nation began to pay attention to the discrimination of African
Americans in Alabama were voter discrimination was the highest in the U.S. Reverend Martin
Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders including Bernard Lafayette and John Lewis planned
a voter registration drive in Selma, Alabama, in early 1965. At the time, Selma had the worst
voting registration for African Americans. Of the 29,500 residents in Selma, blacks
slightly outnumbered whites, but 99% of the registered voters were white and 1% black. For
seven weeks, activists led hundreds of Selma’s black residents to the county courthouse to
register to vote. County Sheriff James Clark jailed nearly 2,000 black demonstrators, for
contempt of court, juvenile delinquency, and marching without a permit. A federal court ordered
10 Keyssar, Alexander. The right to vote: the contested history of democracy in the United States. (New York: Basic Books, 2000): 285. 11 Lewis, John, and Michael Orso. Walking with the wind: a memoir of the movement. (San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1999. Print): 214. 6 Clark not to block registration, but Clark forced black applicants to stand in line for up to five
hours before they could to take a “literacy” test. None of the applicants were allowed to pass the test.
When Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot and killed for protecting his mother during a voter
protest march in nearby Marion County, the Selma voter registration march to the state capitol in
Montgomery was organized. On March 7, 1965, civil rights activists Hosea Williams and John
Lewis led the first of the Selma voting rights marches. State troopers attacked, beat and tear
gassed protesters at the Edmund Pettus Bridge while onlookers cheered the troopers on.
Television coverage of the march later called ‘‘Bloody Sunday,’’ caused national outrage. Lewis,
who was severely beaten on the head, said: ‘‘I don’t see how President Johnson can send troops
to Vietnam—I don’t see how he can send troops to the Congo—I don’t see how he can send
troops to Africa and can’t send troops to Selma,’’12
Five days later, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, introduced to Congress the idea of a
Voting Rights Act in what is considered to be one of his most important speeches:
"Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. Yet the harsh fact is
that in many places, in this country, men and women are kept from voting simply
because they are Negroes. Every device of which human ingenuity is capable has
been used to deny this right. … For the fact is that the only way to pass these
barriers is to show a white skin. This bill will strike down restrictions to voting in
all elections—federal, State, and local—which have been used to deny Negroes
the right to vote. …We shall overcome…"13
President Johnson then announced to a joint session of Congress that he would bring them an
“effective” voting rights bill and take action.
The Selma protestors attempted the march to Montgomery again, this time with Dr. King
leading the way. The U.S. District Court federal judge Frank M. Johnson ruled in favor of the
12 May, Gary. Bending toward justice: the Voting Rights Act and the transformation of American democracy. (New York: Basic Books, 2013): 90‐91. 13 "Speech Before Congress on Voting Rights (March 15, 1965)‚ Miller Center. University of Virginia, 1 June 2007. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://millercenter.org/president/speeches/detail/3386>. 7 civil rights protestors to march from Selma to Montgomery and got President Johnson to
federalize state troops to protect the protestors. On March 25, a crowd of 25,000 gathered at the
state capitol to celebrate the completion of the march. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed the
crowd and called for an end to segregated schools, poverty, and voting discrimination. “I know
you are asking today, ‘How long will it take?’ . . . How long? Not long, because no lie can live
forever...the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”14
THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT
On August 6, 1965, President Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act that made
literacy tests and poll taxes used to prevent voting illegal. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was
divided into two parts, general and special provisions. General provisions in sections 2 and 3
gave the federal government oversight over elections. Section 2 prohibits "the imposition and
application of any racially discriminatory voting qualifications or prerequisite to voting,
standard, practice or procedure.”15 Section 3 allows the Federal Court to use “remedies” identified
in the special provisions to enforce the 15th Amendment. The important parts of the act are the
special provisions in sections 4 through 9. Special provisions are applied to "jurisdictions" or areas
identified as using any illegal "devices" like literacy tests. In these areas voting procedures are reviewed
and federal supervision ends only if the illegal practices are not used over a number of years. The most
important provisions are Sections 4b and 5. In 4b a “coverage formula” stated if less that 50% of
the population was registered to vote, actions against states or counties would be taken if they fail to
14 May, Gary. Bending toward justice: the Voting Rights Act and the transformation of American democracy. (New York: Basic Books, 2013): 144. 15 “Voting Rights Act of 1965; August 6, 1965." Avalon Project ‐ Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy. The Lillian Goldman Law Library Yale University, 1 Jan. 2008. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/voting_rights_1965.asp>. 8 meet the requirements of the formula. To get out of federal supervision, Section 5 "preclearance"
requirements needed to be met. With the new law voting discrimination would no longer be allowed
IMPACT OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT
“The Voting Rights Act itself has been called the single most effective piece of civil
rights legislation ever passed by Congress.”16 The results of The Voting Rights Act of 1965 are
very important. African American voter registration grew to more than fifty percent in the South.
By the end of 1966, only four out of the traditional thirteen Southern states had less than fifty
percent of African Americans registered to vote. By 1968, even Alabama had fifty-seven percent
of African Americans registered.17 Over time, more African Americans were elected
into public office. “By 1971, there were thirteen members of the U.S. House of Representatives
and one black member of the U.S. Senate.” 18
In addition, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 put in place requirements to end voting
discrimination. Section 5 of the law stated, “Whenever a State …shall enact or seek to
administer any voting qualification … different from that in force or effect on November 1,
1964, such State …must submit for a declaratory judgment that …[changes] does not have the
purpose and will not have the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote…”19 The effect of
16 "Introduction to Voting Rights Laws: The Effect of the Voting Rights Act." Department of Justice: Civil Rights Division. United States Department of Justice, 19 June 2009. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/intro/intro_c.php>. 17 Keyssar, Alexander. The right to vote: the contested history of democracy in the United States. [New York: Basic Books, 2000]: 264. 18 Flemming, Arthur S., Stephen Horn, Frankie M. Freeman, Manuel Ruiz, Jr., and Murray Saltzman. The voting rights act, ten years after: a report of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. (Washington: The Commission, 1975): 24. 19 "Voting Rights Act of 1965; August 6, 1965." Avalon Project ‐ Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy. The Lillian Goldman Law Library Yale University, 1 Jan. 2008. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/voting_rights_1965.asp>. 9 the law was to make sure the states and counties that stopped African Americans from voting on
purpose would end their unfair practices and prevent future discrimination.
Finally, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has helped to elect more African
American representatives in southern state legislatures. According to a study done by Grofman
and Handley on the number of Black respresenatives in state legislatures in the south,
"...there was an average of an eight percent increase in African American’s elected to southern
state legislatures in part as a result of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.”20
The collective actions of the federal government, the Supreme Court and civil rights activists
resulted in the Voting Rights Act of 1965, guaranteeing all Americans have equal access to the ballot.
Chief Justice Thurgood Marshall best summed up the importance of the right to vote when he
said, “Without the ballot, you have no citizenship, no status, no power in this country. With it,
anything is possible.”21 With the Voting Rights Act of 1965, America fulfilled its responsibility
and the promise that every citizen has a voice in our democracy.
20 Grofman, Bernard, and Lisa Handley. "The impact of the Voting Rights Act on black representation in southern state legislatures." Legislative Studies Quarterly (1991): 125. 21 May, Gary. Bending toward justice: the Voting Rights Act and the transformation of American democracy. (New York: Basic Books, 2013): 20. 10 Appendix A:
John Lewis' Speech at the 1963
March on Washington for Jobs
and Freedom. ‘One Man, one
vote’…It must be ours.”
March on Washington, 1963. Washington: National Archives, 2008. Video Recording.
Appendix B: Freedom Day, Selma Alabama October
1963. Residents line up to register to
vote are met with long lines and police
brutality against anyone who tried to
help the Blacks waiting to register to
vote.
Appendix C: 11 Voting requirements in many Southern counties made
it impossible for African Americans to register to vote.
In Alabama literacy tests of different levels of difficulty
were put in place to make sure African American’s
couldn’t vote.
Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library Appendix D: President Lyndon B.
Johnson signs the
Voting Rights Act as
Martin Luther King , Jr.
and other Civil Rights
Leaders witness the
moment.
National Archives Washington, DC, 08/06/1965 12 Works Cited Primary Source Documents "1844 State Constitution." New Jersey Department of State. State of New Jersey Department of State, 1 Jan. 2011. Web. 27 Jan. 2014. <http://www.nj.gov/state/archives/docconst44.html#art2>. This primary source document was used to give an example of male suffrage rights by right before the Civil War. The document is an example that I could use to show how laws about voting were restricted to white males. "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation." U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 ­ 1875. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <http://memory.loc.gov/cgi‐
bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=015/llsl015.db&recNum=379>. This is a primary source document image of the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The website that provided the image is the United States National Archives and Records Administration. The image was used to provide the original text of the 15th Amendment. The original image of the document was important for my research so I could compare the interpretation with the actual words. Bullard, Sara, and Julian Bond. "Fighting For The Ballot." Free At Last: A History of the Civil Rights Movement and Those Who Died in the Struggle. Montgomery: The Civil Rights Project], 1994. 26‐31. Print. This is a primary source photographic documents, it shows many pictures of the protests, and world leaders and activist fighting for the right to vote. I have used the pictures and real life examples of what people did if they tried to vote also to see what happened at protests and also see what people 13 did to make this possible for everyone to have equality. This helped with understanding what had to happen to get a change for the better of America. "Declaration of Independence." Declaration of Independence. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Web. 14 Dec. 2013. <http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration.html>. The Declaration of Independence is a primary source document. The website the transcript of the document is found on is a government website, the United States National Archives and Records Administration. The information used from the Declaration was the popularly quoted phrase, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights...that among these are the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness..." The quote was used to provide background information to why the Voting Rights Act was necessary to live up to America's promise of equality for all its citizens. Flemming, Arthur S., Stephen Horn, Frankie M. Freeman, Manuel Ruiz, Jr., and Murray Saltzman. The voting rights act, ten years after: a report of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Washington: The Commission, 1975. Print. This is a primary source book document by the U.S. commission on Civil Rights, January, 1975. The importance of the document information is the report on the progress of the voting rights act, explanation on why the act was necessary and implications of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The information most useful was the reasons why the act was passed, specifically stated from the book, "The Voting Rights Act is a complex piece of legislation that was developed in response to the failure of earlier legislation to remedy discrimination in voting...It is important to recall...that the 14 frustration of Federal efforts to ensure free exercise of 15th amendment rights led directly to the enforcement mechanisms of the Voting Rights Act." The information was used in understanding why the act was necessary. Grofman, Bernard, and Lisa Handley. "The impact of the Voting Rights Act on black representation in southern state legislatures." Legislative Studies Quarterly (1991): 111‐128. This journal article is a primary source document. The information was a study done about the Voting Rights Act and impact on increase in African American legislators in the south. The information provided statistics on the results of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, specifically the numbers increase in registration and numbers of African American representatives in the southern states that were most impacted by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The information was used to show the importance of the act. Johnson, Lyndon B. "LBJ Presidential Library | Research." Special Message to the Congress: The American Promise, March 15, 1965. lbjlibrary.org, 15 Mar. 1965. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://www.lbjlibrary.net/collections/selected‐speeches/1965/03‐15‐
1965.html>. This speech is a primary source document from the Lyndon B. Johnson presidential Library. The entire speech is provided and the site cites its source from The Public Papers of The President of the United States. The speech provided the reasons that Johnson used to convince Congress and the American people that the Voting Rights Act was necessary. The information helped in listing why President Johnson saw the laws a necessary. Johnson, Lyndon B. "President Lyndon B. Johnson's Remarks in the Capitol Rotunda at the Signing of the Voting Rights Act August 6, 1965 ." Lyndon Baines Johnson 15 Presidential Library & Museum. lbjlibrary.org, 6 Aug. 1965. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/speeches.hom/650806.asp
>. This information is a primary source document provided by the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library. The document is part of Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965. The information from President Johnson's speech was used to cross reference other documents in the recounting of the history of how the Voting Rights Act came about and gives Johnson's point of view on the importance of the legislation. This resource is important because it is a primary source document that validates secondary sources used in my research. Lewis, John, and Michael Orso. Walking with the wind: a memoir of the movement. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1999. Print. This is a primary document source. The information used from the book was the recollection of the author, Representative John Lewis about his role in the events leading up to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Mount, Stephen. "Notes on the Amendments ‐ The U.S. Constitution Online ‐ USConstitution.net." Index Page ­ The U.S. Constitution Online ­ USConstitution.net. N.p., 1 Jan. 2010. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://www.usconstitution.net/constamnotes.html#Am14>. This website provides information on the interpretations of the Amendments to the Constitution. A detailed bibliography is provided for the information on this site and the site is provided as a public service and for educational use. The author information is verified. The information used from this site provided a useful interpretation of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. The information from this 16 site helped me to better understand the intent of these rights. Purday, Richard. Document sets for the South in U.S. history. Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath, 1991. Print. 147. This resource provided the primary source document, Senator Tillman’s speech titled, “Their Own Hotheadedness”: Senator Benjamin R.“Pitchfork Ben” Tillman Justifies Violence Against Southern Blacks showing how southerners did not want African Americans to have the vote. "Speech Before Congress on Voting Rights (March 15, 1965)‚ Miller Center. University of Virginia, 1 June 2007. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://millercenter.org/president/speeches/detail/3386>. This information used is a primary source recording of the President Johnson's Speech To Congress on the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The site is the University of Virginia's Miller Center, a nonpartisan institute that seeks to expand understanding of the presidency, policy, and political history, providing critical insights for the nation‚ and governance challenges. The information used on this site was the explanation of the speech to better understand why President Johnson gave the speech. According to the Miller Center, the interpretation of the speech was to explain that, "...every man should have the right to vote and that the civil rights problems challenge the entire country, not one region or group." In the speech, "...the President asks Congress to help him pass legislation that dictates clear, uniform guidelines for voting regardless of race or ethnicity and that allows all citizens to register to vote free from harassment." I used the information from the site to view the speech itself and to get a feeling of how important the speech was in getting the law passed. 17 "U.S. Constitution : Article I." Avalon Project ‐ U.S. Constitution : Article I. The Lillian Goldman Law Library Yale University, 1 Jan. 2008. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/art1.asp>.” This document is a primary source document and was used to identify the phrases in the U.S. Constitution that first talks about the right to vote. The source is an educational site that posts documents related to law and history with links relevant to the content of the document. The site provides information for public and educational use. The law specifically says in section 1, "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Section 2 says there will be penalties to any state that "But when the right to vote at any election...is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty‐
one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced...". This document was used to help explain the history of the laws about the right to vote and why there was a need to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. I learned that the right to vote was not specifically mentioned in the Constitution until the 14th Amendment and even then it only talked about what would happen if a stated denied the right to vote for any male of age. The amendment did not specifically mention anything about the right to vote for African Americans or any minority. "The Constitution of the United States: Amendments 11‐27." National Archives and Records Administration. The Library of Congress, 27 Feb. 1869. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. 18 <http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_amendments_11‐
27.html>. "Transcript of the Constitution of the United States ‐ Official Text." Transcript of the Constitution of the United States ­ Official Text. U.S. National Achieves and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2013. <http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html>. The United States Constitution is a primary source document that provides the specific transcript of the United States Constitution. The website is the U.S. National Archives that keeps the records of our nations founding document, the U.S. Constitution. The information used from the document was the Preamble to the Constitution. This information was used to show why the Voting Rights Act was necessary, specifically, the quotes of "establish justice" and "secure the blessings of liberty". The information in the preamble helped to formulate the thesis which states the reasons that the Voting Rights Act was essential in keeping to the purpose of our government. "Truman Library ‐ To Secure These Rights, The Report on The President's Commission on Civil Rights Chapter II." Truman Library ‐ To Secure These Rights, Chapter II. Truman Library, 14 Jan. 2014. Web. 27 Jan. 2014. <http://www.trumanlibrary.org/civilrights/srights2.htm#17>. This source is the report from the Voting Rights Act of 1957. The commission report provided voting data used in the paper to show problems with voting in southern states. The document is a primary source that provides the findings from the commission. Voting, 1961 United States Commission on Civil Rights report. Washington: U.S. G.P.O.], 19 1961. Print. This primary source document was used for voting data and to see what progress was being made with African American voting since the 1957 Civil Rights Act. “Voting Rights Act of 1965; August 6, 1965." Avalon Project ­ Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy. The Lillian Goldman Law Library Yale University, 1 Jan. 2008. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/voting_rights_1965.asp>. This is the primary source document of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Avalon Project is a website sponsored by Princeton University Lillian Goldman Law Library and its purpose is to provide documents and links related to the law. The document provides a transcript of the text of the Act describing the specific parts of the Voting Rights Act. I used this document to cross reference specific parts of the law with secondary source information. The information from this document was also quoted in my research. "Welcome to Our Documents.gov." Welcome to OurDocuments.gov. National History Day, The National Archives and Records Administration, and USA Freedom Corps, 6 Aug. 1965. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc_large_image.php?doc=100>. This is a primary source of the document of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. I used this document to have a clear visual of what the document was about. This makes my research more valid and I can use this to make quotes and such to provide information that may not provided in various sources that I use. 20 Secondary Sources Barton, David. "The History of Black Voting Rights." Free Republic, 5 Mar. 2003. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. <http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1072053/posts>. The article provides a history of voting rights for African Americans. The source is a secondary source, but most of the information has footnotes to the primary source documents and speeches that is used in the article. What was important about this article was the footnotes contained links to the southern state constitutions so you could see how the states had written in the laws to prevent black from voting. Garrow, David J.. Protest at Selma: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Voting rights act of 1965. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1978. Print. This secondary source was used for its primary source statistics on African voter registration. Garrow notes that the statistics used in the tables are the best estimates that can be put together from the limited data available during that time period. Garrow thoroughly explains the validity and reliability of the statistics (see pg. 7). Southern states did not keep accurate data on African American voting during the time period. Epps, Garrett. "What Does The Constitution Actually Say About Voting Rights?" The Atlantic. The Atlantic , 19 Aug. 2013. Web. 15 Dec. 2013. <http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/08/what‐does‐the‐
constitution‐actually‐say‐about‐voting‐rights/278782/>. The article, What Does the Constitution Actually Say About Voting Rights is a secondary source document. The article is an excerpt from the book, American Epic: Reading The Constitution by Garrett Epps, published October 2013. The articles discusses how voting rights are not specifically stated in the U.S. Constitution until the 14th Amendment mentions 21 it and then the 15th Amendment directly says, "can not abridge or deny the right to vote." The Constitution goes on to mention voting rights 4 other times after the 15th Amendment. The information in this article helped to explain how there was a need for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to ensure specifically African Americans and other minorities would be guaranteed the right to vote. "Introduction To Voting Rights Laws: Before the Voting Rights Act ." Department of Justice: Civil Rights Division. United States Department of Justice, 19 June 2009. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/intro/intro_a.php>. The Department of Justice website on the Federal Voting Rights Laws is a secondary source that explains the history and laws related to voting rights in the United States. The U.S. Department of Justice website is a government website that provides information for public and education use, has links to support its claims and was last updated in June 2009. The information on this website was used to explain the history that led to the voting rights act and detail the important parts of the laws that were passed to get African Americans and minorities the right to vote. The information on this site helped me to understand how the right to vote for African Americans originally came about. The site specifically talks about the "Military Reconstruction Act of 1867, which allowed former Confederate States to be readmitted to the Union if they adopted new state constitutions that permitted universal male suffrage." The site also provided information to understand how taking away the right to vote (disfranchisement) came about. The information provided on the site explains how disfranchisement came about and what the impact was on African Americans, specifically, the discrimination "laws included poll taxes, literacy tests, vouchers of 22 "good character," and disqualification for 'crimes of moral turpitude'." These laws were 'color‐blind' on their face, but were designed to exclude black citizens disproportionately by allowing white election officials to apply the procedures selectively." "Introduction to Voting Rights Laws: The Effect of the Voting Rights Act." Department of Justice: Civil Rights Division. United States Department of Justice, 19 June 2009. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/intro/intro_c.php>. The Effect of the Voting Rights Act information website is a secondary source website with information from the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. The information on this government website is provided for public and education use and was last updated in July 2009. The information presented here is about the effects of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. I used the information to explain why consequences were needed to enforce equal voting rights for all citizens including, increase in "black voter registration..." and, "the cumulative effect of the Supreme Court's decisions, Congress' enactment of voting rights legislation, and the ongoing efforts of concerned private citizens and the Department of Justice, has been to restore the right to vote guaranteed by the 14th and 15th Amendments." The information helped me to better understand why the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was probably the most important civil rights law to be passed then and now. "Introduction to Voting Rights Laws: The Voting Rights Act of 1965." Department of Justice: Civil Rights Division. United States Department of Justice, 19 June 2009. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/intro/intro_b.php>. The information from this site was used to explain why the law was necessary. According the site, 23 "Congress determined that the existing federal anti‐discrimination laws were not sufficient to overcome the resistance by state officials to enforcement of the 15th Amendment. The legislative hearings showed that the Department of Justice's efforts to eliminate discriminatory election practices by litigation on a case‐by‐case basis had been unsuccessful in opening up the registration process; as soon as one discriminatory practice or procedure was proven to be unconstitutional and enjoined, a new one would be substituted in its place and litigation would have to commence anew." The information was used to explain the role of Congress in getting the law passed. The information given on this site provided a better understanding about what was going on in Congress that eventually allowed for the law to pass. Keyssar, Alexander. The right to vote: the contested history of democracy in the United States. New York: Basic Books, 2000. Print. This is a secondary source book that was used to provide background information about voting rights throughout America's history. Information used from the book provided background on attempt to pass equal voting rights for African Americans in the 1890's specifically the Lodge Force Bill that was "designed as a temporary, quasi‐emergency measure... that immediately suspended literacy tests and other 'devices'..." to prevent voting in states that had less than 50% voters turn out. This information was important to my research because it showed how there were attempts before the voting rights act that recognized disfranchisement attempts. Kotz, Nick. Judgment days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the laws that changed America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005. Print. This is a secondary source 24 book that describes the roles of President Johnson and Martin Luther King in passing the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. The book talks about the day by day events of President Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr that created and got the Voting Rights Act passed Several parts of the books was used to support how President Johnson's speech was about the events that led to the Voting Rights Act and the need for Congress to pass the law. May, Gary. Bending toward justice: the Voting Rights Act and the transformation of American democracy. New York: Basic Books, 2013. Print. This book is a secondary source book that provides information about the specific individuals and events that led up to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. I used specific individuals and events to explain the discrimination that was going on at the time. This was used to get a better understanding on how the Selma March which was a result of events that happened to the African American and minority communities. Mintz, Steven. "Winning the Vote: A History of Voting Rights." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Gilder Lehrman, 1 Jan. 2004. Web. 15 Dec. 2013. <http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history‐by‐era/government‐and‐
civics/essays/winning‐vote‐history‐voting‐rights>. This secondary source article provided information on the history of voting rights, specifically what the Constitution said about voting rights prior to and including the 14th and 15th Amendments. The article was helpful in providing information about what the voting rights stated in the Constitution before the 14th and 15th Amendments and the history of voting rights before the Civil War. "NAACP History: Voting Rights Act | NAACP." NAACP | National Association for the 25 Advancement of Colored People. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 9 Oct. 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://www.naacp.org/pages/naacp‐history‐voting‐rights‐act>. The NAACP site is a secondary source that provided information on the history of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This site is a non‐profit civil rights organization providing information as a public service. The purpose of the information on this site is to support the cause of civil rights. The site provided resource links to reference the information. The information was used to gather information on the history of the voting rights act. The significant information the site provided was about how the enforcement provisions were not originally thought to be necessary. According to the site information, "Originally, in 1965, legislators hoped that within five years the problems would be resolved and there would be no further need for these enforcement‐related provisions: however, it proved necessary to extend these in 1970, and again in 1975 and 1982." The information implied that the creators of the law didn't think the penalties would be needed because the states would follow the law. They found out differently. Piven, Frances Fox, Lorraine Carol Minnite, and Margaret Groarke. Keeping down the black vote: race and the demobilization of American voters. New York: New Press, 2009. Print. This is a secondary source book about race and keeping the minority vote down, specifically talking about African Americans. The parts of the books important to my research included the information recounting specific historical events that led to the passing of the voting rights laws in relationship to the whole civil rights movement that included Truman and Kennedy's efforts. The specific 26 information cited from the text included how the civil rights movement itself had a large impact on mobilizing black voters. "The movement's influence was direct, in the sense that it reawakened the long‐standing faith of African Americans in the transformational power of the vote. Trueman, Chris. "The 1965 Voting Rights Act." The 1965 Voting Rights Act. HistoryLearningSite.co.uk, 1 Jan. 2000. Web. 4 Nov. 2013. <http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/1965_voting_rights_act.htm>. This is a secondary source about The Voting Rights Act of 1965. The website is an educational site that verifies the authors credentials and the content is provided as a public service. The site gave useful information that I used to understand what happened to get the Voting Rights Act and the effects that took place when the act went in to effect. This helped with informing me of the changes of discrimination at the voting polls that made this a significant part of history. "Voting Rights Act of 1965 legal definition of Voting Rights Act of 1965. Voting Rights Act of 1965 synonyms by the Free Online Law Dictionary." Legal Dictionary. Version 2. The Encyclopedia of American Law: The Gale Group Inc, 30 Sept. 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://legal‐
dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Voting+Rights+Act+of+1965>. This is a secondary source, legal dictionary that provides a detailed bibliography and cites specific resources to support it's claims. I used the site for better understanding of historical background and the interesting interpretation of Chief Justice Earl Warren's view on the Voting Rights Act, "inventive." Also that the original act was directed at seven southern states. This helped to provide information to help 27 support my thesis statement. Williamson, Richard A. "The 1982 Amendments to the Voting Rights Act: A Statutory Analysis of the Revised Bailout Provisions." Washington University Law Review. Version 62. Washington University Law Review, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. <digitalcommons.law.wustl.edu/lawreview/vol62/iss1/2 >. This secondary source document by Richard A. Williamson talks about the importance of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The information in this document is well referenced. The Author uses many primary and secondary source documents to support the information he presents. This information helped me to understand the importance of the Voting Rights Act especially what Richardson pointed out which states that it was "aimed at areas of the country where voting discrimination was most flagrant." 28