Voting Rights Act

In some states, a citizen must pay a poll tax before he or she can vote in state and local elections. The tax is seldom more than two dollars, but it sometime keeps very poor people from voting. Some Southern States use poll taxes to discourage African Americans from voting in state and local elections. Amendment 24 to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1964, provides that a citizen's right to vote in national elections cannot be restricted by any tax. A year later in 1965, another Right was passed by Johnson called, The Voting Rights Act, this outlawed discrimination in voting. This allowed all Africans Americans to be able to freely vote for the first time. For Centuries and Centuries African Americans weren't allowed because they weren't the perfect skin color until 1965. This was one of the greatest accomplishments in African American history.