The Voting Rights Act was adopted in 1965. It is fundamental in the history of federal legislation in the field of protection of the rights of citizens.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (P.L. 89-110)) became one of the most significant acts of federal law, guaranteeing equal suffrage for US citizens regardless of race or color. Despite the fact that the previous Civil Rights Laws of 1957, 1960, and 1964 contained rules on the protection of electoral rights, they, in the words of Attorney General N. Katzenbach, had only a “minimal effect,” especially in comparison with the “direct and dramatic” effect of the Voting Rights Act. Indeed, in the first four years after its adoption, more than a million black voters were registered, including more than 50% of the black electorate in the southern states.
Historical interpretations are assumptions and conclusions about the revolution, made after the fact. The most common interpretations are formed by historians: academics and researchers who study and write history.
