It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. ... This “act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution” was signed into law 95 years after the amendment was ratified.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a law that the United States prohibits racial discrimination towards voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the time of the civil rights movement on August 6, 1965, and Congress later amended the Act five times to expand its protections.
