Primary Source Spotlight: Voting Rights Act of 1965

Online exhibition items & curator notes

Voting Rights Act of 1965 African American Odyssey
Voting Rights Act of 1965 Civil Rights Act of 1964
Voting Rights Act of 1965 NAACP: A Century in the Fight for Freedom

Voting rights political cartoons by Herb Block

Don’t Be Getting Any Ideas That You Have a Right to Vote March 11,1965
Commemorating the Action at Montgomery, Alabama March 18, 1965
Literacy Test March 17, 1965
Say, This Is Okay—A Majority of Us That Can Votes in This State Would Decide Whose Votes Won’t Mean Much in the Future April 6, 1965
You’re Really Rolling Up Quite a Record April 11, 1965
After All, We’re Not Against Voting Rights in Principle—Only in Practice April 14, 1965
And For These Fine American Klan Boys a Great Big Red-Blooded Hand May 20, 1965
The March Goes On May 30, 1965
Continuation of a March Herblock August 11, 1965

We Shall Overcome Johnson sheet music cover

Reports

The voting rights act : the first months U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, November, 1965
The voting rights act, ten years after United States Commission on Civil Rights 1975
Using the Voting Rights Act United States Commission on Civil Rights 1976
The voting rights act, unfulfilled goals United States Commission on Civil Rights 1981

Legislation

Voting Rights Act proposed amendments
To examine the impact and effectiveness of the Voting Rights Act hearing before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Ninth Congress, first session, October 18, 2005
Voting Rights Act: the judicial evolution of the retrogression standard hearing before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Ninth Congress, first session, November 9, 2005
Voting Rights Act : evidence of continued need hearing before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Ninth Congress, second session, March 8, 2006
Renewing the temporary provisions of the Voting Rights Act : an introduction to the evidence hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, second session, April 27, 2006
An introduction to the expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act and legal issues relating to reauthorization hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, second session, May 9, 2006
Modern enforcement of the Voting Rights Act hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, second session, May 10, 2006
Renewing the temporary provisions of the Voting Rights Act: legislative options after Lulac v. Perry hearing before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Property Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, second session, July 13, 2006
H.R.9 – Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006 109th Congress (2005-2006)

Invitation to signing of H.R.9 on July 27, 2006 (and associated sources) Rosa Parks Papers

United States: Supreme Court Interprets Voting Rights Act to Avoid Constitutional Review Global Legal Monitor July 14, 2009

Webcasts

Related resources

Today in History: First March from Selma
President Johnson’s Special Message to the Congress: The American Promise as delivered in person before a joint session at 9:02 p.m. March 15, 1965 (video and transcript)
The Making Of LBJ’s Historic “We Shall Overcome” Speech WBUR March 14, 2014
Primary Source Spotlight: Civil Rights

Teaching resources