Before 1965, voters were forced to take obscure tests in order to vote, mainly took place in the South. Because of the Emancipation Proclamation, states could not prevent African Americans from voting because they were black (Pierre-Louis1). …show more content…
Many states made laws preventing African Americans from voting by taking tests. These tests humiliated the people taking it so much that they just did not vote at all (Pierre-Louis1). Because the voter “technically” were not directly excluded because of their race, it did not directly violate the U.S. Constitution (Pierre-Louis1). The states would also use intimidation and poll taxes ,a tax that everyone had to be regardless of income or static, to prevent African Americans and other minority citizens from voting (Pierre-Louis1). Because they were not able to vote, they could not vote against candidates that did not support them or represent what they wanted or did not want (Pierre-Louis1). In 1965, the government passed the Voting Act of 1965, getting rid of the literacy test and all the other tests used to prevent people from voting (Lyons1). This Act is considered one of the most important pieces of legislation of the Civil Rights Era (Lyons1). Because of this, things began to change within the …show more content…
The changes were most noticeable in the South (Lyons1). The citizens who were restricted from voting began to elect their own representatives (Pierre-Louis1). They elected L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia as the first black governor since the Reconstruction, and thousands of other African Americans into government positions (Lyons1). This apparently happened because the population of African Americans that wanted to vote was much greater than the population of white citizens that wanted to vote (Lyons1). Because of the success of this Act, congress decided it was necessary to extend and add the problem of “vote dilution” by passing the Voting Rights Act amendment of 1982 (Lyons1). Vote dilution happened when voting processes made it difficult for minorities to get representation (Lyons1). This also happened by exaggerating votes from certain districts (Lyons2). The amendment got rid of this by banning the use of the structures that were used to depress the election of minority representatives (Lyons2). This ban helped increase the amount of voters from all types of citizens.
In conclusion, the Civil rights Era was so important because it formed present day society. The passing of the Voting Rights Act was a very important part of the Civil Rights Era; it affected a vast majority of people both positively and negatively. It got rid of the literacy test that held so many people back from voting. By doing this, African