Civil Rights

15 th Amendment As we have already seen the 15 th amendment does several things to ensure the right to vote. This amendment was drawn up for the sole purpose of making sure African Americans could vote. However just stating an amendment without any way to enforce it wasn’t enough. Congress had to act and for almost 90 years they paid no attention to this matter.

History of suppression For the longest time African Americans were denied the right to vote in the South. During a 90 year period after the Civil War there were many things used to systematically deny African Americans the right to vote. Violence was the main tactic employed by White supremacists but more formal “legal” methods were used.

“Legal” Voter suppression The most effective things used were the literacy test and the poll tax. Both of these were aimed at keeping African Americans from voting but the rules were often bent for other white voters who couldn’t read or pay the poll tax. Voter registration in the South served the same purpose and as written it appeared they applied to all voters but in practice they barred African Americans.

Gerrymandering This is a term used for re-drawing electoral districts (geographic boundaries of areas officials are elected from) in order to limit the voting strength of a particular party or group. Nebraska is drawn up like this. This lead to decades long Democrat domination in the South.

Primary Exclusion This was another method used. In the South political parties were defined by law as “private associations.” Remember the first amendment provides the right to assembly and this was used as the excuse to deny African Americans membership in the Democratic Party. Because only party members could vote in Primaries this excluded African Americans from voting in Primaries. In 1944 the Supreme Court said in Smith v. Allwright, that this practice violated the 15 th amendment.

Civil Rights Acts Largely in response to the Civil Rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. Congress was eventually forced to act and they passed several acts intended to finally implement the 15 th amendment. Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960: These acts did several things. One was to create the United States commission on Civil Rights. Their major duties were to inquire into claims of voter discrimination and report their finding to the President and Congress and through the media the public. The 1960 Act provided for the Appointment of federal voting referees. Those officers were to serve anywhere a federal court found voter discrimination and were given the power to help qualified persons register to vote.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 This was the biggest and most effective of the Civil Rights Act yet. It relied on federal courts to cut down barriers to voting. It began the practice of injunction. An injunction is an order given by a federal judge to compel or restrain some act by a private or public sector official. This soon became ineffective however.

Selma Alabama 1965 Here Martin Luther King and his supporters started a register to vote drive. King and his supporters made a peaceful march to the state capital to register to vote. This was met by violence from white civilians, city and county police, and eventually the state patrol. Several civil rights workers were murdered and many others were beaten. This outraged President Lyndon Johnson and the he called for much tougher action.

Voter Rights Act of 1965 This was the most historical of the Voter Rights Acts and finally made the 15 th amendment an effective part of the Constitution Unlike the others this act applied to all elections held anywhere in this country. This meant state local and federal elections. This act also banned the poll tax and literacy test. Originally this act was supposed to be in effect for a period of 5 years but it has been extended four different time most recently in The act was extended in 1975 and made the ban on the literacy test permanent. The 2006 extension was for 25 years extending the act’s provision until 2031.

Preclearance This was a provision in the 1965 act. It said that no existing election laws could be changed and no new ones could be made unless given preclearance, approval, by the Department of Justice. Only those laws that do not diminish minority voter rights have cleared preclearance. States can be given a “bail-out” of preclearance if they can prove they haven’t applied any discriminatory laws or procedures for at least 10 years.

Things to Remember For almost 90 years the 15 th amendment wasn’t upheld. Violence, poll taxes, and literacy tests were used as a way to keep African Americans from voting while these rules were often bent for white voters. The Voter Rights Act of 1965 was the most historical of civil rights acts. It applied to all elections at every level. The 1965 Act banned poll taxes and literacy tests. The 1965 act was amended several time and in 1975 the ban on the literacy test was made permanent.