The image above shows how the deomocratic party dominated the south from the end of the civil war until the election of F.D. Roosevelt in 1932
The voting rights act of 1965 provided protection for minorities against discrimination. It was passed in the U.S senate by a 77-19 vote on May 26. President Lynden Johnson signed the voting rights act into law on August 6, with Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders present. Before this occurred the Jim Crow laws used to prevent African Americans from voting by imposing literacy tests, poll taxes, property ownership requirements, moral character tests, and in some cases the requirement that ones grandfather had voted, which was nearly impossible.
It was also really hard for African Americans to vote because they would feel intimidated by the KKK. A secret society of white men founded in southern states that focused on white supremacy and terrorizing others. Th KKK would often kill African Americans and threaten them that if they tried to vote they would face the consequences. Or sometimes they would kill them regardless if they got the chance. Therefore many people didn’t see the point in voting if it would jeopardize their lives.
Martin Luther King Jr. sought to protect the rights of African Americans and led many protests to get where he needed to be. He knew that with the protests he would be heard by many. He believed in using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs. He was a very brave man that people should remember forever. With out his help the world could’ve been a different place. His dreams of the world appreciating human diversity is still motivating us today.
millnooor • Sep 25, 2015 at 12:10 pm
It’s weird to think about that blacks weren’t considered a person and they were so hated back then. They are a person just like whites but how does the color off someone make you decide that you need to create a group of white people to kill them? What makes them not able to vote and you need to kill them because they are trying to be a citizen?
Cristt • Sep 18, 2015 at 12:08 pm
it make no sense how people thing they are better than other just because they are whites, Martin Luther king is prove everyone how he was a better person that the ones that were part of the kkk clan.