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Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1957, giving the U.S. Attorney General the authority to bring lawsuits on behalf of African Americans denied the right to vote.
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In a major setback to voting rights, the U.S. Supreme Court rules in Lassiter v. Northampton County Board of Elections that literacy tests for voting in North Carolina do not violate the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.
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The Civil Rights Act of 1960 requires election officials to have all records relating to voter registration and permits the Department of Justice to inspect them. The Act also allows African Americans whose registration was previously rejected by local election officials to apply to a federal court or voting referee.
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In Baker v. Carr , the U.S. Supreme Court rules that courts can direct legislatures to redraw district boundaries to ensure citizens' political rights.
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In Gray v. Sanders t he U.S. Supreme Court finds that Georgia's "county unit" system of voting is unconstitutional and articulates the essential concept of "one person, one vote."
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The "March on Washington" led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. receives worldwide attention
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Poll taxes are outlawed with the adoption of the 24th Amendment
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In Reynolds v. Sims , a major voting rights victory, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the one person, one vote rule applies to legislative bodies
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Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1964, making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, religion, and gender in voting, public places, the workplace and schools.
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A Jackson, Mississippi, federal grand jury hands down indictments for the June 1964 slaying of three civil rights workers-James E. Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner
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More than 500 non-violent civil rights marchers are attacked by law enforcement officers while attempting to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to dramatize the need for African American voting rights and to protest the fatal police shooting of Jimmy Lee Jackson, a civil rights activist.
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President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act into law, permanently barring direct barriers to political participation by racial and ethnic minorities, prohibiting any election practice that denies the right to vote on account of race, and requiring jurisdictions with a history of discrimination in voting to get federal approval of changes in their election laws before they can take effect.
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By the end of 1965, 250,000 new black voters are registered, one-third of them by Federal examiners
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In South Carolina v. Katzenbach, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act.
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African American voter registration jumps from 6.7% in Mississippi before passage of the Voting Rights Act, to 59.8% in 1967.
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Nine African Americans are elected to Congress, the largest number since 1875.
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Congress renews the temporary provisions of the Voting Rights Act for five years, and they are signed into law by President Richard Nixon
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Following the election of 12 African Americans to Congress in 1970, Congressman Charles C. Diggs, Jr. of Michigan establishes the Congressional Black Caucus to secure a larger voice for African Americans in public affairs.
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Barbara Jordan of Houston and Andrew Young of Atlanta become the first African Americans elected to Congress from the South since Reconstruction.
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President Gerald Ford reauthorizes the special provisions of the Voting Rights Act, including new measures to permanently bar literacy tests nationwide and give assistance to language minority voters.
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Minority voting rights are strengthened in White v. Regester , when the U.S. Supreme Court rules that Texas redistricting is unconstitutional because it dilutes minority voting strength in Bexar County.
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Congress reathorizes the special provisions of the Voting Rights Act for 25 years
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As a result of the Voting Rights Act, the number of black elected officials in Georgia grows to 495 in 1990, from just three prior to the VRA.
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Out of 38 African Americans elected to the US House of Representatives who will serve in the 103rd Congress, only three are elected from majority-white districts.
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The language minority provisions of Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act are extended 15 years and strengthened by adjusting the population thresholds to allow for assistance to more voters with limited English proficiency. The bill is signed into law by President George H.W. Bush.
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The National Voter Registration Act, also known as the "Motor Voter" Bill, makes registration more uniform and accessible, especially for minority and low income voters.
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The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Miller v. Johnson that race cannot be the "predominant factor" when drawing district lines.
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The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Reno v. Bossier Parish School Board that the federal government can preclear redistricting plans created with a discriminatory purpose, as long as the purpose is not to make things worse
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Help America Vote Act. Congress provided funds to states to improve election administration and replace outdated voting systems. HAVA also creates minimum standards for states to follow in areas of election administration and provides for voting by provisional ballots.
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Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act. Congress extended Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act for an additional 25 years.