Civil Rights Legislation Mini-Q

Consider the effects that the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the
passage of the 24th Amendment had in the rising number of African Americans and
minorities that were allowed to vote. Look at the following Primary source documents
and answer the Analysis questions.

Document A

Image Courtesy of Brian D. Newby

Document Analysis
1. What is this document?

2. From where and what year was this document issued?

3. If $2.00 in 1964 is equivalent to $13.36 in 2014, why was a Poll Tax a big deal in
keeping minorities from voting?

Document B

Source: The National Archives

Document Analysis
1. When and where was this document created?

2. What was the 87th Congress of the United States proposing?

3. What is stated in section one?

Document C

Source: Congress Link

Document Analysis
1. When was H.R. 7152 passed by the House?

2. What is H.R. 7152 most famously known as?

3. What was the goal of this Act?

Document D
White House Approval
"President Johnson welcomed the bill he had sought for so long. Within a few hours of
passage, he signed it into law in a nationwide television broadcast from the White House.
On July 2, 1964, President Johnson spoke the following words before signing the bill:
We believe that all men are created equal -- yet many are denied equal treatment. We
believe that all men have certain inalienable rights. We believe that all men are entitled to
the blessings of liberty -- yet millions are being deprived of those blessings, not because of
their own failures, but because of the color of their skins.
The reasons are deeply embedded in history and tradition and the nature of man. We can
understand without rancor or hatred how all this happens. But it cannot continue. Our
Constitution, the foundation of our Republic, forbids it. The principles of our freedom forbid
it. Morality forbids it. And the law I sign tonight forbids it....
Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 [64/7/2-3]"

Source: The United States Department of Justice

Document Analysis
1. What day did President Johnson sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

2. According to Johnson's speech, what does the law he signed forbid?

3. Look at the picture. Do you find anything interesting about the people in the picture?

Document E
Public Law 89-110
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Eighty-ninth Congress of the United States of America
AT THE FIRST SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, the fourth day of January, One thousand nine hundred and
sixty-five.
An Act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That this Act shall be known as the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
SEC. 2. No voting qualifications or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be
imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the
United States to vote on account of race or color.
Source: The United States Department of Justice

Document Analysis
1. When and where was the first session of Congress meeting?

2. What does section 2 of this Act state?

Document F
Voter Registration Rates (1965 vs. 1988)

Source: United States Department of Justice

Document Analysis
1. What happened to voter registration rates for Blacks from 1965 to 1988?

2. What happened to the gap between the voter registration rates between blacks and
whites? Give an example.

3. According to this chart, did the Civil Rights Legislation affect voting registration of
Blacks? Why could this have happened?