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The Voting Rights Act of 1965
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How Selma's Bloody Sunday led to the most effective civil rights legislation in American history — and its ongoing erosion.
Despite the 15th Amendment (1870) and the Civil Rights Act (1964), Black voter registration in the Deep South remained extremely low. In Selma, Alabama, only 2% of eligible Black citizens were registered. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and SNCC launched a voter registration campaign there in early 1965.
On March 7, 1965 — 'Bloody Sunday' — roughly 600 marchers attempting to walk from Selma to Montgomery were attacked by state troopers and county posse members on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Troopers used tear gas, clubs, and mounted horseback charges against nonviolent marchers. The violence was broadcast on national television, interrupting regular programming.
The images shocked the nation. Protests erupted in 80 cities. President Johnson addressed Congress on March 15, declaring 'We shall overcome' — adopting the movement's anthem as the government's own.
The Voting Rights Act, signed on August 6, 1965, was the most effective civil rights legislation in American history. It outlawed literacy tests and other barriers to voting. Most powerfully, Section 5 required states with histories of discrimination to get federal approval ('preclearance') before changing any voting laws.
The impact was dramatic. Within two years, Black voter registration in Mississippi jumped from 6.7% to 59.8%. Across the South, Black citizens voted in large numbers for the first time since Reconstruction. The number of Black elected officials in the South grew from fewer than 100 in 1965 to over 1,000 by 1970.
In 2013, the Supreme Court's Shelby County v. Holder decision gutted Section 5 by ruling that its coverage formula was outdated. Since then, states previously covered by preclearance have enacted voter ID laws, reduced polling locations, and purged voter rolls — measures that critics argue disproportionately affect Black and minority voters.
