Civil Rights
15th Amendment
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As we have already seen the 15th amendment
does several things to ensure the right to vote.
This amendment was drawn up for the sole
purpose of making sure African Americans could
vote.
However just stating an amendment without any
way to enforce it wasn’t enough.
Congress had to act and for almost 90 years they
paid no attention to this matter.
History of suppression
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For the longest time African Americans were
denied the right to vote in the South.
During a 90 year period after the Civil War there
were many things used to systematically deny
African Americans the right to vote.
Violence was the main tactic employed by White
supremacists but more formal “legal” methods
were used.
“Legal” Voter suppression
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The most effective things used were the literacy
test and the poll tax.
Both of these were aimed at keeping African
Americans from voting but the rules were often
bent for other white voters who couldn’t read or
pay the poll tax.
Voter registration in the South served the same
purpose and as written it appeared they applied to
all voters but in practice they barred African
Americans.
Gerrymandering
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This is a term used for re-drawing electoral
districts (geographic boundaries of areas
officials are elected from) in order to limit
the voting strength of a particular party or
group.
Nebraska is drawn up like this.
This lead to decades long Democrat
domination in the South.
Primary Exclusion
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This was another method used.
In the South political parties were defined by law as “private
associations.”
Remember the first amendment provides the right to
assembly and this was used as the excuse to deny African
Americans membership in the Democratic Party.
Because only party members could vote in Primaries this
excluded African Americans from voting in Primaries.
In 1944 the Supreme Court said in Smith v. Allwright, that this
practice violated the 15th amendment.
Civil Rights Acts
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Largely in response to the Civil Rights movement led by
Martin Luther King Jr. Congress was eventually forced to act
and they passed several acts intended to finally implement
the 15th amendment.
Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960:
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These acts did several things. One was to create the United
States commission on Civil Rights.
Their major duties were to inquire into claims of voter
discrimination and report their finding to the President and
Congress and through the media the public.
The 1960 Act provided for the Appointment of federal voting
referees. Those officers were to serve anywhere a federal court
found voter discrimination and were given the power to help
qualified persons register to vote.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
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This was the biggest and most effective of the
Civil Rights Act yet.
It relied on federal courts to cut down barriers to
voting.
It began the practice of injunction.
An injunction is an order given by a federal judge
to compel or restrain some act by a private or
public sector official.
This soon became ineffective however.
Selma Alabama 1965
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Here Martin Luther King and his supporters
started a register to vote drive.
King and his supporters made a peaceful march
to the state capital to register to vote.
This was met by violence from white civilians, city
and county police, and eventually the state patrol.
Several civil rights workers were murdered and
many others were beaten.
This outraged President Lyndon Johnson and the
he called for much tougher action.
Voter Rights Act of 1965
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This was the most historical of the Voter Rights Acts and finally
made the 15th amendment an effective part of the
Constitution
Unlike the others this act applied to all elections held anywhere in
this country.
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This meant state local and federal elections.
This act also banned the poll tax and literacy test.
Originally this act was supposed to be in effect for a period of 5
years but it has been extended four different time most recently in
2006.
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The act was extended in 1975 and made the ban on the literacy test
permanent.
The 2006 extension was for 25 years extending the act’s provision until
2031.
Preclearance
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This was a provision in the 1965 act.
It said that no existing election laws could be
changed and no new ones could be made unless
given preclearance, approval, by the Department
of Justice.
Only those laws that do not diminish minority
voter rights have cleared preclearance.
States can be given a “bail-out” of preclearance if
they can prove they haven’t applied any
discriminatory laws or procedures for at least 10
years.
Things to Remember
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For almost 90 years the 15th amendment wasn’t upheld.
Violence, poll taxes, and literacy tests were used as a way to
keep African Americans from voting while these rules were
often bent for white voters.
The Voter Rights Act of 1965 was the most historical of civil
rights acts. It applied to all elections at every level.
The 1965 Act banned poll taxes and literacy tests.
The 1965 act was amended several time and in 1975 the ban
on the literacy test was made permanent.