Voting+Rights+Essay

The Voting Rights Movement. Somer Miller

It has been almost a century since the fifteenth amendment was put into use, but they still refused to use it. In the year of 1860 everyone was offically free to vote. Now it's 1965 and African Americans still feel threatened to vote.

The Civil Rights Voting Act suspended the use of literacy tests, poll taxes, and supervision when voting. President Johnson signed the papers to enable this act on August 6, 1965.

Right now on 2009, to vote all you have to do is wait until you are eighteen, sign papers, and vote. But just about fourty-five years ago people struggled just to get into the buildings. African Americans went through anything and everything to get one vote. Most states were the same about voting rights, but down south they were the worst. In all states African Americans had to take the "literacy tests". Even though they were well educated and passed the tests they weren't allowed to vote. When they went to go vote it was legal for whites to threaten, beat, and harass them. In Alabama, African Americans had to recite a four page oath. While they said the oath sometimes they would get yelled at for pronouncing a word wrong or harassed because they didn't know it.

One of the famous leaders, Reverend George Lee, lead a group of people to a voter registration. Unfourtionately, it didn't make a big impact because he died in 1955. When leading his group the the registration he was shot in the face by a white segragationist.