Siteseen
Siteseen: American Historama: Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was enacted to prevent discrimination and protect voting rights. It was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on August 6, 1965, to safeguard the right to vote of Black Americans and ban the use of...
Library of Congress
Loc: congress.gov: Voting Rights Clarification Act of 2000
Copy of the Voting Rights Clarification Act, introduced in 2000 to amend the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1945 1980:civil Rights Act 1964/voting Rights Act 1965
Learn about the civil rights legislation that outlawed discrimination in jobs, education, housing, public accommodations, and voting.
US Government Publishing Office
Ben's Guide to u.s. Government: Learning Adventures: The History and Process of Voting
Learning adventures teaches students of all ages about the voting process and the history of voting, citing the 15th and 19th Amendments, Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the 26th Amendment. Links to the National Archives and voter...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Constitutional Rights Foundation: Race and Voting in the Segregated South
Article and activity in which students read and analyze the historic challenges faced by African Americans as they sought to gain an unimpeded right to vote in the segregated South followed by activity asking students to evaluate current...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Classroom: Women's Rights
Extensive information for high-school classes examining the history of women's suffrage and the struggle for equal rights as well as related issues that address such questions as: Are laws protecting women's rights still needed?...
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Now: Securing the Right to Vote: Selma to Montgomery Story
[Free Registration/Login Required] Lesson plan asking this essential question: "What conditions created a need for a protest march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 and what did that march achieve?"
US National Archives
National Archives: Congress Protects the Right to Vote
Students will draw conclusions regarding actions taken by Congress when passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. They will weigh the balance of power between the federal and state governments when protecting the right to vote. Materials...
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow: Voting Then, Voting Now
This site explores the voting experiences for African Americans beginning in the Jim Crow era. It shares literacy tests African Americans had to take and other challenges they were given for the right to vote. This denial of the right to...
Alabama Humanities Foundation
Encyclopedia of Alabama: Selma to Montgomery March
One of the most famous events in Civil Rights history, this report covers the Selma to Montgomery March for voting rights.
Other
Center for Voting and Democracy Glossary
Brief and informative description of the Voting Act of 1965, as well as other definitions related to equal opportunity in voting.
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Rise and Fall of Jim Crow: A National Struggle: Congress
This two-page segment of a larger PBS site about Jim Crow discusses the role of Congress over close to 100 years in first entrenching Jim Crow laws in the law of the land, and eventually, through the Civil Rights Act of 1965 and the...
OpenStax
Open Stax: Contesting Futures: America in 1960s: Lyndon Johnson and Great Society
Read about the reforms and legislation undertaken through Lyndon B. Johnson's concept of the Great Society. These included economic and educational reforms, consumer protection, changes to immigration laws, and the Voting Rights Act of...
US National Archives
National Archives: To What Extent Was Reconstruction a Revolution? (Part 2)
This is a continuation of part 1 of the lesson "To What Extent was Reconstruction a Revolution?". Students will study the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to see if their opinion changes from the previous lesson. Included are whole class...
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: The First March From Selma
This article details a key event in the civil rights struggle--the demonstration organized by the Rev. Martin Luther King in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965, when 525 people met a police blockade on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Martin Luther King, Jr.
A brief biography of civil rights hero, Martin Luther King, Jr. This article touches on his early life, but focuses on his actions as a leader of nonviolent change to bring equality to African Americans. Find a speech given by Robert...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: The Civil Rights Movement: 1919 1960s
Article provides an overview of the Civil Rights Movement in America between 1919 and the 1960s with detailed discussion on racial equality, nonviolence and passive resistance, and segregation.
Curated OER
National Park Service: International Civil Rights Walk of Fame: Lyndon Johnson
Read about President Lyndon Johnson's on how to end poverty in the United States as well as how to protect civil rights.
Raleigh Charter High School
Mrs. Newmark's Page: Civil Rights
This interactive activity focuses on the Civil Rights Movement.
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Aftermath: African American Women and the Vote
Though the suffrage movement failed to exclude African-American women, and many obstacles came in the way of their voting (e.g., poll taxes, literacy tests, etc.), "African-American women were not strangers to community activism." Learn...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Martin Luther King Jr.: Civil Rights Leader
Students will explore how King's deep-seated commitment to nonviolence contributed to the expansion of social justice in the United States, particularly for African Americans.
US National Archives
Docsteach: To What Extent Was Reconstruction a Revolution? (Part 2)
This activity is a continuation of the instructional activity for Part 1. In it, students will examine the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and determine whether their analysis of this document changes their responses to the guiding question in...
Digital History
Digital History: Affirmative Action and the Case of Allan Bakke [Pdf]
The history of affirmative action was interwoven with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Read about how the federal government under both President Kennedy and President Nixon attempted to open up jobs to...
Siteseen
Siteseen: American Historama: Selma March
The Selma Freedom March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama took place in March 1965 as part of the voting rights movement.