The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a groundbreaking law designed to halt racially discriminatory voting practices, especially in the South, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965. The act outlawed literacy tests and poll taxes, administered primarily to weed out Black citizens, and other procedures of a discriminatory nature. It provided for federal registration and Department of Justice over-site to registration practices in areas in which less than 50% of minority voters were registered to vote. The law also required areas in which less than 50% of the population was registered (in 1964) to receive federal preclearance from the Department of Justice before they could change voting laws.

Many consider the act to be highly successful and directly responsible for a more representative America, both at the polls and in elected officials. Appeals to its success were touted often in the congressional and popular debates.