One significant event that lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was the March from Selma to Montgomery. The purpose of this peaceful protest was to register black voters in the state of Alabama. However, these peaceful protestors were met with violence from white citizens who did not want to see blacks have a significant voice in the political realm. This outbreak of violence showed that the federal government needed to make a law to help protect African-American voting rights, hence resulting in the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In early April 1917, with the toll in sunken U.S. merchant ships and civilian casualties rising
