The 1965 Voting Rights Act was a landmark Civil Rights era achievement that aimed to end discriminatory practices against Black Americans who tried to vote. Recently, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, the GOP frontrunner in the race for Florida governor, claimed that the law was created because of Democrat gerrymandering practices. However, historians disagree with this statement.
Historical Context
Historians told PolitiFact that racist gerrymandering was not the driving force behind the law’s creation. The Voting Rights Act was created to combat discriminatory practices against Black Americans who tried to vote, including literacy and property tests, grandfather clauses, poll taxes, voter roll purges, intimidation, and violence.
Alex Keyssar, a Harvard University history and social policy professor, said that the Voting Rights Act passed because, in most Southern states, Black Americans were not permitted to vote or even register to vote. He added that numerous devices were used to prevent Black people from registering, like literacy tests and understanding clauses, but gerrymandering was not the issue.
Expert Opinions
Carol Anderson, an Emory University African American studies professor, called Donalds’ comment ahistorical and disingenuous, saying it ignores the Southern Strategy, where Republicans turned the Democratic South into a GOP-stronghold by criticizing the Civil Rights Movement to gain support.
Keneshia Grant, a Howard University political science professor, said that the VRA sought to have federal monitoring of areas throughout the U.S. that had a history of discriminatory actions. While much of that discrimination was happening in the South, it was not limited to that region.
Section 2 of the law also prohibits governments from imposing election procedures or practices that would deny or restrict the right of U.S. citizens to vote based on race or color.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Voting Rights Act was created to enforce the 15th Amendment and end longstanding racist practices against Black Americans to keep them from voting. Historians say that racist gerrymandering existed before the law passed, but it wasn’t a primary tool for voter disenfranchisement at that time.
Original reporting: WRAL Raleigh — read the source article.
