“The Voting Rights Act of 1965 made it possible for people to access the simplest tool of democracy.”
That’s how Dr. Khalilah Brown-Dean describes the landmark legislation. She’s a Wesleyan University professor of political science and the host of “Disrupted” on Connecticut Public.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), signed into law on Aug.t 6, 1965. But six decades later, its protections face new threats that indicate the fight for voting rights in America is far from over.
A landmark in civil rights legislation
The VRA was enacted to eliminate barriers that had long disenfranchised Black voters in the United States. The struggle leading up to its passage was marked by violent suppression, intimidation and the determined activism of civil rights leaders.
“You had Black veterans returning from fighting overseas,” Brown-Dean said in a conversation with Connecticut Public. “They came home and they couldn't vote.”
That contradiction — serving in the military to defend democracy while being denied the right to participate in it — was one of many injustices that fueled the fight for universal voting rights in the U.S.
Catalysts for change
From sit-ins and boycotts to marches and other tactics, the 1960s saw an explosion of activism to secure voting rights for Black Americans. Those actions risked — and often cost — lives. That included Viola Liuzzo, a Detroit housewife and mother who traveled to Alabama in 1965 to support the movement.
Liuzzo, who was white, was driving civil rights marchers between Montgomery and Selma. Ku Klux Klan members shot and killed Liuzzo in her car.
“She wanted to be part of the movement for freedom,” Brown-Dean said.
Stories like Liuzzo’s, along with the brutal beatings of activists such as John Lewis on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, made it clear that federal intervention was necessary. The Voting Rights Act was the result — a law designed to protect citizens from racially discriminatory voting laws and practices.
A transformative impact
The passage of the VRA brought sweeping changes, particularly in the South, where discriminatory literacy tests and poll taxes had long been used to suppress Black voters. In the years following the VRA, voter registration and participation among African Americans surged, paving the way for greater political representation.
“To have someone like John Lewis ... go from being beaten on a bridge in Selma to then becoming a member of the United States House of Representatives, that would not have happened but for the intervention and the commitment of the VRA,” Brown-Dean said.
Modern challenges to the VRA
Despite its historic success, the VRA has been weakened over time, particularly by the 2013 Supreme Court ruling Shelby County v. Holder, which struck down key provisions. Before that decision, certain jurisdictions with histories of voter suppression were required to obtain federal approval before changing their voting laws. The court’s ruling removed that requirement, allowing states to implement voting restrictions without oversight.
“One of the biggest threats to the Voting Rights Act is the unwillingness to enforce its provisions,” Brown-Dean said. “Having a preclearance provision ... [meant] they had to have them pre-cleared with the Department of Justice.”
Without preclearance, some states have enacted measures such as strict voter ID laws and voter roll purges — policies that critics say disproportionately affect minority communities.
The VRA’s broader impact
While the VRA is often associated with African American voting rights, its protections extend far beyond that demographic.
“The Voting Rights Act of 1965 made it possible for people with visual impairments, for people for whom English is not their first language … [and] for indigenous people,” Brown-Dean said.
The act ensured that ballots would be made accessible to non-English speakers and individuals with disabilities, expanding democratic participation.
Hope for the future
Amid some states enacting new voting rights restrictions, advocates are pushing for federal legislation to reinstate and strengthen the VRA’s protections.
“I am hopeful that Americans of good conscience will remember the importance of the history of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and commit to ensuring its future,” Brown-Dean said.
For Brown-Dean, ensuring voting rights for all is central to what makes America … America.
“A commitment to voting rights is not partisan,” she said. “But it is about moving our country closer to her promise and to the ideals of democracy.”
