Today in Civil Rights History: The Voting Rights Act becomes Law
In the early 1960s, television images of police attacking civil rights marchers shocked the nation and spurred the passage of sweeping civil rights legislation. On March 7, 1965, police in Alabama used tear gas and billy clubs to attack over 500 civil rights activists who marched from Selma to Montgomery to dramatize the call for voting rights for African Americans. The images of police brutality were broadcast worldwide.
One week later, President Johnson responded by calling on Congress to pass a voting rights bill. When he signed the VRA five months later, he remarked that it was to be “one of the most monumental laws in the entire history of American freedom.”
The VRA is considered the most successful civil rights law Congress has ever passed and remains as important now as it was four decades ago. Since 1965, Congress has voted four times to renew all three of its temporary provisions, most recently in 2006, when both the House and the Senate approved the measure overwhelmingly in a bipartisan manner. Congress conducted over 20 hearings, heard from over 50 expert witnesses, and collected over 17,000 pages of testimony documenting the continued need for and constitutionality of the VRA.
More:
- President Johnson’s Speech at the VRA’s passage
- Wade Henderson column on the 40th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday”
In the early 1960s, television images of police attacking civil rights marchers shocked the nation and spurred the passage of sweeping civil rights legislation. On March 7, 1965, police in Alabama used tear gas and billy clubs to attack over 500 civil rights activists who marched from Selma to Montgomery to dramatize the call for voting rights for African Americans. The images of police brutality were broadcast worldwide.
One week later, President Johnson responded by calling on Congress to pass a voting rights bill. When he signed the VRA five months later, he remarked that it was to be “one of the most monumental laws in the entire history of American freedom.”
The VRA is considered the most successful civil rights law Congress has ever passed and remains as important now as it was four decades ago. Since 1965, Congress has voted four times to renew all three of its temporary provisions, most recently in 2006, when both the House and the Senate approved the measure overwhelmingly in a bipartisan manner. Congress conducted over 20 hearings, heard from over 50 expert witnesses, and collected over 17,000 pages of testimony documenting the continued need for and constitutionality of the VRA.
More: