Voting Rights Act: Trivia
Voting Rights Act: Trivia
The Act was expanded in 1975 to cover Indigenous Americans, Asian Americans, Alaskan Natives, or people of Spanish heritage. (Source)
Two years after Shelby County v. Holder, Barack Obama awarded the Congressional Gold Medal "to the Foot Soldiers who participated in the Bloody Sunday, Turnaround Tuesday, or the final Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March in March of 1965, which served as a catalyst for the Voting Rights Act." (Source)
Literary tests could be absolutely absurd. This Louisiana state literacy test asked voters to "Write every other word in this first line and print every third word in same line (original type smaller and first line ended at comma) but capitalize the fifth word that you write." Fun for a trivia book, less fun if you're trying to vote and effect any kind of local change. (Source)
Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders were present at the signing of the Voting Rights Act. (Source)
The act was still ignored in the South after it was passed, but its most important facet proved to be the power it gave citizens to challenge lax enforcement of the act. As a result, voter turnout among African Americans finally began to climb as more votes were finally counted. (Source)