US Department of Justice
Introduction to Federal Voting Rights Laws
From the U.S. Justice Department, this is a history of voting rights laws in the United States, including a discussion of the Fifteenth Amendment.
Curated OER
History Matters: "And We Shall Overcome": Johnson's Special Message to Congress
Read President Lyndon B. Johnson's speech before the the Congress in support of the Voting Rights Act. Feel the passion in his address and his desire to further racial equality.
National Women’s History Museum
National Women's History Museum: Creating a Female Political Culture
Creating a powerful political imagery was crucial to establishing a political presence in the American public consciousness and in bringing about the acceptance of voting rights for women.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Classroom: Voting Rights
This website contains an interactive timeline about the history of voting rights in the United States.
NPR: National Public Radio
Npr: Code Switch: The Racial History of the "Grandfather Clause"
Learn the origin of the term "grandfathering in" and how it affected African-American voting rights from the 1870s until 1939.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Read about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which sought to make discrimination illegal, and the resistance they faced from the public and government officials. As time passed, African Americans began to...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Ap Us History Unit: Period 7: 1890 1945: The Nineteenth Amendment
The study resource from Khan Academy provides an overview of Period 7: 1890-1945 in American History. The Nineteenth Amendment is discussed in this lesson. This resource is designed as a review for the AP US History Test.
National Women’s History Museum
National Women's History Museum: Fannie Lou Hamer
Fannie Lou Hamer was one of the most important, passionate, and powerful voices of the civil and voting rights movements .
South Carolina Educational Television
Know It All: History of Voting Rights in the u.s.
Learn more about the history of voting rights in the United States with this interactive timeline.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: The Expansion of the Vote: A White Man's Democracy
Read about how the ability to vote changed from requiring the ownership of property to almost complete enfranchisement of white males by 1840. There was disenfranchisment of women and free blacks in the same period of time.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Resources: Robert Kennedy on Civil Rights
[Free Registration/Login Required] After reading the background information about Attorney General Robert Kennedy's report on civil rights enforcement activities of the Department of Justice in 1962, read the full transcript of the...
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...
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.
National Women’s History Museum
National Women's History Museum: 19th Amendment
Examine the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women voting rights.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Now: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Legacy
[Free Registration/Login Required] This resource provides information about Martin Luther King, Jr.'s impact on American history. In addition, there are links to related topics.
Digital History
Digital History: Voting Rights
In 1964 African Americans won the right to vote, but still had to jump through several hoops in some states before actually casting a ballot. Find out how voiting evolved into 1965.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Ap Us History: 1890 1945: The Age of Empire: The Progressive Era
The Progressive Era from the 1890s to the 1920s evolved as a response to the negative effects of industrialization. Reforms that emerged provided protections for workers and consumers and gave women voting rights. Backlash against the...
US National Archives
Our Documents: A National Initiative on American History, Civics, and Service
Our Documents is home to one hundred milestone documents that influenced that course of American history and American democracy. Includes full-page scans of each document, transcriptions, background information on their significance, and...
Nebraska Studies
Nebraska Studies: Limited Voting Rights for Women Approved in Nebraska
Explore the events leading to women gaining the right to vote in Nebraska.
National Women’s History Museum
National Women's History Museum: Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Learn biographical details on Elizabeth Cady Stanton, author, lecturer, and chief philosopher of the woman's rights and suffrage movements.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: 300 Women Who Changed History: Woman Suffrage
Encyclopedia Britannica site provides a general overview of the history of woman suffrage in the United States and throughout the world.
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...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Separate Is Not Equal: White Only
This section from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History's exhibition Separate Is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education gives the history of Jim Crow laws and how they affected not only the voting rights of...