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This Voting Rights Act of 1965 activity also includes:
- Joint resolution proposing the Fifteenth Amendment, 1869
- Letter from William E. Borah to W. E. B. Du Bois, 1926
- Political cartoon called “One Vote Less,” 1872
- Poll-tax petition from Tennessee, 1930s
- Citizenship test from the Georgia State Voter Registration Act, 1958
- Excerpt from The Voting Rights Act of 1965
- Photograph of President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act, 1965.
- Television news clip of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., June 1965.
- Photograph of marchers on the third Selma to Montgomery civil rights march, March 25, 1965
- Excerpt from a television news broadcast with Governor Carl Sanders, March 1965
- Excerpt from a United States Commission on Civil Rights report, 1975
- Excerpt from congressional hearings on voting rights, 1993
- 2006 Act to Amend the Voting Rights Act of 1965
- Excerpt from a US Senate hearing on the Voting Rights Amendment Act, 2014
- Activity
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Despite the passing of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, as well as the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the struggle to ensure fair voter registration and election procedures continues. Young historians examine a series of primary sources and consider whether the Voting Rights Act achieved the intended goals.
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Concepts
primary source analysis, primary source images, primary sources, critical thinking, suffixes, the voting rights act, voting rights, point of view, author's perspective, author's purpose, historical context, compare and contrast, the fifteenth amendment, racism, jim crow laws, martin luther king jr., supreme court cases, african american history, african americans, the thirteenth amendment, the fourteenth amendment, discrimination, segregation, plessy v. ferguson, reconstruction, the reconstruction era, the civil rights act of 1964
Instructional Ideas
- Have groups investigate current voting controversies, including mail-in ballots, voter identification, and polling days, and hours
- Challenge class members to take the citizenship test
Classroom Considerations
- Load the packet on pupils' devices to save copying and printing costs
Pros
- The packet includes an overview that provides background information, a teachers guide with discussion questions and activities, and the 14-piece primary source set
Cons
- None