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The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King considered the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to be an essential piece of legislation to guarantee civil rights for African-Americans.

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This is also including the literacy test and the grandfather clause and with the passage of the 24th Amendment the dreaded poll tax. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 authorizes the United States government to oversee elections in southern states where there’s been a history of record of voter suppression.

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One of the reasons the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was so important is it helped to eliminate some of the mechanisms that have been used to suppress the right to vote for African-Americans.

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Organizations like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Congress of Racial Equality had been active in registering African-Americans to vote in the South with little success prior to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

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The voting rights act of 1965 was necessitated by the fact that the vast majority of African Americans in the south could not vote. Despite the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, many civil rights activists believe that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was still necessary due to the denial of the right to vote of blacks in many southern communities.

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LBJ signs Voting Rights Act on Aug. 6, 1965

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Facts about the Voting Rights Act of 1965

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Facts about the Voting Rights Act of 1965

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Sound Smart: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 | History