Objective: Explain the importance of Civil Rights legislation Voting Rights Objective: Explain the importance of Civil Rights legislation

Freedom Summer Literacy tests, poll taxes, and violence were used in the south to keep African-Americans from voting.

Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned different voting standards for blacks and whites. 24th Amendment outlawed poll taxes

Despite the laws, African-Americans still faced difficulty voting in the south 1964, SNCC organized a voter-registration drive in the south called Freedom Summer

SNCC brought college students from the north to help register African-American voters in Mississippi

Volunteers endured bombings, beatings, arrests, and murder

1965 – MLK and SCLC organize voter registration drive and protest march in Alabama March 7 – protestors are attacked crossing a bridge in Selma

Violence was broadcast on national tv

President Johnson warned he would tolerate no more violence and sent troops to protect the march

August 6, 1965- President Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act Law banned literacy tests and other laws that kept blacks from registering to vote

Law also sent federal officials to register voters African-Americans voter registrations rose from 10% to 60% in Selma within weeks