The Voting Rights Act of 1965
Overview of Congressional Anti-Discrimination Efforts
The Voting Rights Act (VRA) is one of the most significant elections statutes ever enacted. The law prohibits discrimination based on race, color or language-minority status in registration and voting nationwide. The VRA also provides protections for blind, disabled or illiterate voters. Congress designed the VRA to remedy and prevent pervasive racial discrimination in registration and voting, especially in Southern states, which continued for a century after the Civil War ended. Although Reconstruction of the South enfranchised many African American men, the federal government’s practical role in protecting minority voting rights in the South was substantially limited between the end…
