#OTD in 1965, the Voting Rights Act is signed into law. President Lyndon B. Johnson introduced the V
#OTD in 1965, the Voting Rights Act is signed into law. President Lyndon B. Johnson introduced the Voting Rights Act to Congress in March 1965, the same month that voter registration protests began in Selma, Alabama. The violence there added pressure on Congress to act, and the bill passed in four months. The law outlawed literacy tests. Poll taxes, and other obstacles to voting. It gave the federal government the authority to take over voting registration wherever voting rights were threatened. The act helped bring African Americans to the polls and their leaders to become elected officials. Search our online collection to see objects related to voting rights: http://s.si.edu/2un3tAe #APeoplesJourney -- source link
#civilrights#apeoplesjourney