The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited racial discrimination in voting. Signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement, it was designed to enforce voting rights protected by the 14th and 15th amendments. The act is considered to be one of the most effective pieces of federal civil rights legislation ever enacted in the United States.
The Voting Rights Act helped a quarter of a million new Black voters register by the end of 1965. By the end of 1966, only four out of 13 southern states had fewer than 50 percent of African Americans registered to vote. The act immediately decreased racial discrimination in voting.