African Americans segregated and discriminated
In.1960s, African Americans were segregated and discriminated. Forms such as Literacy tests, physical and economic coercion barred African Americans from voting. Public and other civil rights supporters to demand voting protests organized by civil rights leaders were met with intense resistance from local authorities. A 1965 march organized by Martin Luther King Junior to Selma, Alabama, led to police brutality and as a result numerous death of the protesters. The cruelty in the South stimulated support for voting rights in Congress. The voting rights Acts was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965. The voting rights act made it illegal for states to demand a poll tax from African American voters before casting a vote. The requirement of a voter to take an English test was absconded. Voters were no longer required to vote by their race or gender. A fine was preferred to anyone found to interfere with another person’s right to vote.
One of the benefits of the Voting Rights Act was that literacy tastes were outlawed. People of colour that attempted to vote were told that they had either gotten the polling place, the date or time wrong. That their literacy skills were insufficient or that they had filled out an incorrect application. People of colour were subjected to literacy tests, which they failed due to their high rate of illiteracy. Black voters were made to recite the whole Constitution or explain the most complex provisions of state laws to the election officials. In the 1965 voting rights Act, the use of tests as a precondition to registering African American voters was no longer a prerequisite for one to vote. Most states in America had employed this test as a precondition to register black voters. Congress noted that some of the devices and mechanisms employed by different countries, like the literacy tests, were not sincere voting preconditions. Instead, these were tools of discrimination used to bar people of colour from voting.
The second benefit of the 1965 Voting Rights Act was the provision for Federal examiners appointment. Federal examiners were mandated to register eligible citizens to vote by a formula provided by the statute. The federal examiner provision was enacted to prevent jurisdictions from denying protected minorities the right to vote. Engaging in discriminatory behaviour in the voter registration process, such as refusing to register qualified applicants, purging qualified voters from the voter rolls, and limiting the hours during which persons could register. Following the 15th amendment, Section 2, prohibited the denial of the right to vote on account of one’s race or colour or previous condition of servitude. The 24th amendment (1964) to the Constitution had banned the use of poll taxes in national elections; the Act directed the Attorney General to challenge the use of poll taxes in both state and local elections. African Americans were poor as such they would hardly afford to pay the poll taxes. A mechanism used by the state to discriminate the blacks against voting
The fourth benefit of the Voting Rights Act was that it allowed people of colour to contest the voting restraints and significantly increased the number of voters. The law reduced racial discrimination in voting when it was the enactment in 1965. The abolition of literacy tests, employment of federal examiners and observers allowed high numbers of racial minorities to register as voters. Almost 250,000 blacks registered in 1965, the federal examiners recording the one-third of the population. Less than one-third (29.3%) of the black community was registered in 1965 covered population; by 1967, this number increased to more than half (52.1%). The number of African Americans elected to state office also increased between 1965 and 1985. Moreover, Blacks elected as legislators in the 11 former Confederate states increased from 3 to 176. Similar, language minority groups’ registration increased after Congress enacted the bilingual election requirements in 1975 and amended them in 1992.
In conclusion, President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act led to an increased number of legislatures in the minority groups. Consequently, white Democratic representation reduced and the Republicans representation increased drastically. Both parties became more ideologically divided and identified as conservative and liberal parties. The Democrats and the Republicans came to compete for electoral votes in the South, with the Republican Party controlling most of the Southern votes in the election. It’s through the protests and marching by Martin Luther King Junior and other activist leaders on the “black Sunday” that led to the freedom of voting that the blacks and the minority groups enjoy to this day. The Act led to reduced discrimination of African Americans and led to liberation. People can now vote for whoever they want, regardless of the colour of their skin, or origin as long as they are American citizens. The Voters Right Act also brought equality between the blacks and the whites, by eliminating the discriminative practices meted against the African Americans.