Voting Rights Act 1965 (EOTO)

Signed by Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965. It banned discrimination in voting practices that were adopted in the South. Enforced the 15th Amendment, "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 condition of servitude", ratified February 3, 1870. Restrictions that prevented African Americans from voted were poll taxes and literacy test. Literacy tests came about because a large amount of the African American population had not had an education and were illiterate and poll taxes because most of the population was poor. Literacy test consist of questions that you are required to answer, that were exceedingly challenging for African Americans, also tested peoples abilities read and write. Some poor white people even had to take the test. Poll taxes were fees people had to pay in order to vote. were deemed unconstitutional in court case Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections 1966. People marched in Bloody Sunday March 7, 1965 to have the right to vote. It took 95 years until voting rights were actually enforced.