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The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a major civil rights law that banned voting discrimination and enabled Black people to vote in large numbers for only the second time in American history (the first being Reconstruction). It also gave poor white voters much more power. However, in the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision, the Supreme Court rolled back one of its most important provisions, which has let states use laws like voter ID requirements to discriminate against voters of color.
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Voting Rights Act Term Timeline in The Sum of Us
The timeline below shows where the term Voting Rights Act appears in The Sum of Us. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6: Never a Real Democracy
...Ohio, and North Carolina. The 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision overturned part of the Voting Rights Act , ending the federal government’s power to oversee election law in states with a history...
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...Crow South, where voter suppression laws stopped virtually all Black people from voting. But the Voting Rights Act of 1965 changed this, enabling most Black Southerners to vote. (After it, Henry Frye finally voted; later,...
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...too. In addition to finally giving Black people meaningful political power in the South, the Voting Rights Act also gave poor white people more bargaining power. Candidates could no longer win on the...
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