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Thirteenth amendment - abolition of slavery
The 13th Amendment was passed by the Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865. -
Fifteenth amendment - minority males can vote
Granted African American men the right to vote by declaring that the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. -
Laws to take away voting rights of African americans
The black codes applied only to “persons of color,” defined as including anyone with more than one-eighth Negro blood. -
Literacy tests are constitutional
Southern state legislatures employed literacy tests as part of the voter registration process. Literacy tests, along with poll taxes and extra-legal intimidation, were used to deny African Americans. -
Grandfather clause
The Grandfather clause, a clause exempting certain classes of people or things from the requirements of a piece of legislation affecting their previous rights, privileges, or practices. -
Nineteenth amendment - woman voting rights
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920. -
twentyfourth amendment - outlaw Poll taxes
Citizens in some states had to pay a fee to vote in a national election. This fee was called a poll tax. On January 23, 1964, the United States ratified the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting any poll tax in elections for federal officials. -
Freedom summer
Civil rights organizations including the Congress on Racial Equality and Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee organized a voter registration drive, known as the Mississippi summer project. -
Voting rights act
The Voting Rights Act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on August 6, 1965, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
