The Voting Rights Act: Historical Context and Associated Issues and Trends

The Voting Rights Act (VRA) is a landmark federal law enacted in 1965 to remove race-based restrictions on voting. It is perhaps the country’s most important voting rights law, with a history that dates to the Civil War. After that conflict ended, a number of constitutional amendments were adopted that addressed the particular circumstances of freed slaves, including the Fifteenth Amendment that guaranteed the right to vote for all U.S. citizens regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. This book provides background information on the historical circumstances that led to the adoption of the VRA, a summary of its major provisions, and a brief discussion of the U.S. Supreme Court decision and related legislation in the 113th Congress.