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.
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.
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.
NBC
Nbc Learn: Finishing the Dream: 1965: We Shall Overcome
A collection of archival video clips highlighting a peaceful protest in Alabama in 1965 that ended in a confrontation with state troopers known as "Bloody Sunday." This was followed by a four-day march with Martin Luther King, Jr., and a...
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.
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...
Northern Illinois University
Illinois Periodicals Online: Everett Dirksen and the 1964 Civil Rights Act
Read about the use of the filibuster in the U.S. Senate as a way to control legislation.In the discussion of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the longest filibuster in history was launched as a way to keep the legislation from coming to a...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Classroom: Voting Rights
This website contains an interactive timeline about the history of voting rights in the United States.
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.
US National Archives
National Archives: Congress Protects the Right to Vote
Young scholars 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....
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...
Siteseen
Siteseen: American Historama: Civil Rights Act of 1957
Informative article on the Civil Rights Act of 1957 that was intended to protect the right of African Americans to vote.
US House of Representatives
History, Art, and Archives: The Civil Rights Act of 1957
Read about the role of President Eisenhower in the impetus for the support of civil rights in 1957.
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...
National Geographic
National Geographic: The Impact of the Jfk Assassination on American Politics
Students investigate the impact John F. Kennedy's assassination has had on American politics since that event. After his death, Lyndon B. Johnson pushed through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act, both of which had...
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 instructional activity "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 instructional activity....
Digital History
Digital History: Civil Rights Act of 1964
A brief description of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the opposition against it, and how the law prohibited discrimination in voting, housing, public facilities, and employment.
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?...
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.
Ducksters
Ducksters: Civil Rights for Kids: Civil Rights Act of 1964
Kids learn about the history of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 including the background and work by leaders such as President John F. Kennedy, President Lyndon Johnson, and Martin Luther King, Jr on this site.
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...
US National Archives
Docsteach: To What Extent Was Reconstruction a Revolution? (Part 2)
This activity is a continuation of the lesson 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 Part 1...