The 15th amendment, ratified in 1870, prohibited states from denying a male citizen the right to vote based on “race, color or previous condition of servitude.” However, many anti-black supporters found ways to prevent blacks and other minorities from having their legal right to vote. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, many voting rights activists voiced their opinions on the issue of the mistreatment of blacks and the unfair steps taken to prevent the black's right to vote. President Lyndon B. Johnson realized, as the public violence and mistreatment towards blacks continued, the pressing issue of civil rights. The voting rights bill was passed in the U.S. Senate by a 77-19 vote on May 26, 1965. After debating the bill for more than a month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 333-85 on July 9. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, with Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders present at the ceremony.
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