...The 2016 general election is provoking a myriad of controversies. One of these controversies includes the new strict voting laws among fifteen states. The Voting Rights Act passed fifty years ago by Lyndon B. Johnson assures that every law-abiding American citizen can exercise their constituitional right. Evidently, voter fraud remains a current issue, requiring new and potential laws to take place this coming election. Kenneth T. Walsh from the Miami Times said, “since the Supreme Court ruling in June 2013, some states have followed up by imposing more restriction on voting, with local politicians arguing that they want to prevent fraud and make sure that there are clear and sensible standards for determining who can vote.”...
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...How important was Martin Luther King to the passing of the civil rights and voting acts 1964-65 The role of Martin Luther King Jr. in the passing of the Civil Rights/Voting Acts has been greatly disputed within the historical community. Some historians such as Anthony Badger argue that there was 'no person more important' than King, whilst others, such as Clayborne Carson believe the opposite: that even without King the civil rights movement would have 'followed a course of development similar to the one it did'. Differing from both these beliefs, there were factors more important than King in the passing of these acts, however, King was far from an inefficacious factor as Carson suggests. Rather he was an important political giant who was (along with his Southern Christian Leadership Conference) an instrumental aid to a number of vital incidents that massively helped catalyse the passage of the acts. Incidents such as the Selma march and the subsequent "Bloody Sunday" a well as his role in the Birmingham and Washington marches. His role as a prominent activist and talented orator added to King's importance as it allowed him to proliferate ideas of peaceful protest and civil disobedience to the masses. However, despite King's distribution of ideas to the masses, it is the masses themselves, or rather the local leaders of them, with whom the greatest credit for the passing of these acts must be placed due to the pressure they placed on the presidency to enact legislation. What's...
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...In 1965, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act which bans racial discrimination by federal workers. Before the Civil War, free blacks were not given the right to vote. Southern states were the main issue because they created a majority of the issues due to their stubborn belief that African Americans should not be given rights. In result, African Americans were denied the right to vote in most parts of the south. That is when the Voting Rights Act was enacted, and removed barriers to voting. This required change in locale’s electoral system. In order for this Act to be successful, it required change in voting procedures. There still lies a problem here, even though congress enacted this law, citizens in the South continued to give African...
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...The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law on August 6, 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson. This act outlawed the discriminatory voting practices that Southern states implemented after the Civil war. (ourdocuments.gov n.d.) The Act was provisioned to include the requirement of government officials to manage elections and voter registration in areas that previously discriminated against African Americans during elections. Immediately after this act was sign into law, significant impact could be seen, African American voter registration rates soared in most southern states. “By the end of 1965 a quarter of a million new black voters had been registered.” (ourdocuments.gov n.d.) Prior to the Voting Rights Act, less than 7% of eligible African Americans were registered to vote in Mississippi and only 20 % in Alabama. Toward the end of 1966, the percentage of registered African Americans voters was raised to 60% in Mississippi and 50% in Alabama, other southern states showed significant improvement as well. In recent years, the number of African Americans registered to vote have increased by more than 70% since the 1960’s, mainly in southern states. (Grofman 1994) Since Democrats did not welcome African Americans before 1924, African Americans tended to vote the Republican ticket. With increasing political power, the political views were starting to shift in the direction of the Democratic Party. The Presidential Election of 1968 was the first Presidential Election following...
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...The United States of America: the land of the free and the home of the brave. Over the past 240 years of being a nation, the citizens and lawmakers of the United States has continually prevented groups of people from voting in this democratic system. After this 2016 presidential election, now is again the time to restrict voting rights, but this time for those 65 and older. The United States has an increasing number of elderly people that have growing conservative views, such as a growing hate for same-sex marriage. The United States needs change towards a more liberal society, without a move towards more liberals, the United States will continue taking away rights of United States’ citizens because of different beliefs, such as gay marriage....
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...Voting Rights Act of 1965 In 2013 the US Supreme Court ruled that Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was unconstitutional. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been the most powerful piece of civil rights legislation, and guaranteed political representation via popular vote. Moreover, Section 5 specifically necessitated selected areas with a history of voter discrimination to get approval from either the U.S. District Court for D.C. or the U.S. Attorney General before they amending voting processes. This was to preempt any minority voter disenfranchisement through the use of any variety of voting "test," such as a literacy test, educational or knowledge requirements, proof of good moral character, and requirements that a person must be vouched for in order to exercise their right to vote. It has also been updated to protect against the use of gerrymandering, prohibitive voting hours, and abusive ID requirements. Chief Justice Roberts delivered the majority opinion that ruled Section 4(b) as being unconstitutional. He described the Voting Rights Act as "strong medicine" for a time when minority voter disenfranchisement was nation wide. The Census Bureau has since reported that the number of African American voters in five of the nine states listed in the Voting Rights Act actually surpasses white voter turnout. The majority opinion granted that voter discrimination still exists, but questioned whether the laws outlined in Section 4(b) were truly the best means of...
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...The Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Voting Rights Act, was a very important bill passed by President Lyndon Johnson on August 6, 1965. The act was passed in order to allow Black African-Americans to vote. One important feature of the VRA, is that it banned literacy tests and put tough restrictions on poll taxes in state elections (Harada). Without this act, plus a couple of other movements, it very well may have been possible that Africans would still be sold into slavery, or simply not treated fairly. Before the Voting Rights Act, African Americans, could not vote. They were generally thrown out of the location of voting, as well as Latinos, Native Americans, and Asian Americans (History). Even after the 15th amendment, which allowed all men,...
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...The Voting Rights Act of 1965 opened many doors for minorities that were prohibited from voting prior to 1965. During this time LBJ was in office an strived for equality between the sexes and races in terms of voting rights; the act prohibited literacy tests from being implemented during voting periods and allowed certain individuals that were denied registration to register for voting. Although the 15th amendment was in effect, many African Americans were still unable to vote due to denied registration or failing to pass the literacy test given before going to the ballots. Individuals that were in bad economic standings were also denied from voting due to being unable to pay the 1.50-1.75 dollar poll tax. The only individuals allowed to vote freely without any boundaries were men and women that were not of color, had good economic standing,capable of passing the literacy test, and property owners....
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...The voting rights act of 1965 was written into law by President Lyndon Johnson on August 6th 1965, and it prevented African Americans from using their right to vote under the 15th amendment of the constitution. After the law was passed in 1965 more than 250,000 African Americans were registered to vote. The voting rights act of 1965 prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It helped more minorities be able to vote, the voting rights act came to pass during the civil rights movement. During this time many African Americans were facing many racial and segregating events. Around this time Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had just finished working and helping out in Birmingham, it was brought to his attention of Selma’s lack of voting and equal rights...
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...My essay will state my educated opinion on how we can restore any and all voting rights that have been taken or abolished by the United States Government from the United States Citizens. Since the late 1700’s there has always been restrictions to whom had availability and the right to vote. In the 1790’s it was only white male property owners. Then in the 1890’s there was a Literacy test implemented for African Americans. In which made African Americans take a specialized test to determine their competence as a human being to determine if they could vote. Then if we jump another hundred years to the year of 1995 when the federal “Motor Voter Law” was implemented to make it easier for all United States citizens to vote Male, Female, African...
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...analyzing is voting rights. Voting rights have changed a lot throughout history and have not always been clear in the constitution. I have decided to discuss this movement because I have become much more interested in it voting rights since I am able to vote now. Voting in the United States was once only for the white men who owned property and so many citizens did not have this right. Voting did not become a reality for African Americans in the South until the twenty-fourth amendment was passed in 1964 and the Voting Right Act in 1965. If we think about this, 1965 was not very long ago. There are many African Americans living today that did not have the right to vote when they were younger and I could only imagine the feelings of oppression that they experienced. Literacy tests and poll taxes made it very difficult for them to vote prior to this movement. When discussing voting rights, we must also discuss women and their voting history. Many women wanted a say in elections and began their suffrage in the 1840s. As more women had enter the workforce, they wanted have a say and they finally received...
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...the loss of the right to vote for inmates who are incarcerated. Prisoners are citizens too. They may have committed a felony, but they are still citizens of their home country. Some people think prisoners should not have the right to vote, but many others think they should. About two million people in U.S. are in prison. All those people do not get to cast a vote in the election. They are not able to decide who runs the country they live in. Imagine not being able to have a say in our country. We are a democracy, which means everyone has the right to vote in our government. Prisoners should be allowed to vote because they still are citizens and still have rights. Prisoners should be able to vote and influence the outcome of an election . If all the prisoners were allowed to vote it may have an impact on the election. Prisoners want the chance to vote. As of February 2011 the United States was in the lead of number of prisoners with 2,019,234. Prisoners do not have a say in the government. In New York people who are on parole cannot vote. As of 2004 thirty-five states forbid people who have just been released from prison to vote. In the constitution it states everyone is given the right to vote. Amendment 15 is the voting rights act. In the first section of this amendment, it states the right to vote cannot be taken away from people based on their color, race, or what has happened previously in their life. That amendment is not being applied to the rights of prisoners. Only...
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...Xavier Jones Professor Brenda Stephens Eng 101 25 November 2015 Social Inequality and Racism: How We Have Killed the Dream. On August 28, 1963 The March on Washington called for more jobs and all around freedom. It remains one of the most popular mobilizations ever created. It was planned and birthed by a union of civil rights activist and people of feminist support, in which most were African Americans. The protest drew nearly a quarter of a million people to our nation’s Capital. One of, if not the most memorable moment of The March on Washington is Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech (“The Forgotten Radical History of the March on Washington”). The entire speech was an ascending oratory that still speaks volumes today just as it did fifty plus years ago. The speech commanded social and racial neutrality, and looked to a desegregated society. The main idea behind Dr. King’s famous speech was very simple; equality for all mankind was necessary for the future. It was 1963 but yet Dr. King was so far down the line in terms of the next generation and what was needed for the nation and all people of different backgrounds, cultures, and ethnicities. He had the formula; the very last portion of the speech summed it all up when he said: “This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords...
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...In early 1965, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) made Selma, Alabama, the focus of its efforts to register black voters in the South. That March, protesters attempting to march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery were met with violent resistance by state and local authorities. As the world watched, the protesters (under the protection of federalized National Guard troops) finally achieved their goal, walking around the clock for three days to reach Montgomery. The historic march, and King’s participation in it, greatly helped raise awareness of the difficulty faced by black voters in the South, and the need for a Voting Rights Act, passed later that year.Even after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbade discrimination in voting on the basis of race, efforts by civil rights organizations such as the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to register black voters met with fierce resistance in southern states such as Alabama. In early 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. and SCLC decided to make Selma, located in Dallas County, Alabama, the focus of a voter registration campaign. Alabama Governor George Wallace was a notorious opponent of desegregation, and the local county sheriff in Dallas County had led a steadfast opposition to black voter registration drives. As a result, only 2 percent of Selma’s eligible black voters (300 out of 15,000) had managed to register.King had won...
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...oldest nominee in history of the Best Actress category. This film gives some great examples of patience,kindness ,dedication, racism , prejudice and dignity in a very difficult time and situation. Driving Miss Daisy is a comedy-drama film that came from Alfred Urhy’s play Driving Miss Daisy. Opening weekend (17 December 1989) Driving Miss Daisy brought in $73.745 the movie grossed $145,793,296. Some of the filming locations were Atlanta, Georgia,Decatur ,Georgia and Douglasville ,Georgia. Overcoming racial prejudice is an important theme in the movie along with growing older, and the importance of friendship. You are also Reminded of the situation in the south, During the time of the civil rights movement. The years 1948-1973 had some of the most important developments in the civil rights movement. Making Driving Miss Daisy was a difficult challenge , one reason was no one was investing in it because everyone kept saying no one could not direct it well enough to entertain an audience for 100 minutes. Driving Miss Daisy not only became a box office success, it also had a global audience appeal. Driving...
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