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Essay on African American Women's Right to Vote
Throughout the 1960s, the amalgamation of two struggles gave African American women the chance to fully contribute in the political process. The first was the reapportionment revolution that began with Baker v. Carr.The second was the Voting Rights Act of 1965. One outcome of those struggles was the multimember district, which many saw as an effort to continue the obstacles which prevented African Americans from effectively voting. A multimember district may be defined as one in which the same voters elect more than one delegate to serve a geographical area that could be divided into numerous areas, each represented by a single person. It is clear that, in some instances, the multi-member region is one of the methods used to thwart Black gains in voting.
At the same time, the Supreme Court has frequently held that multimember districts are not per se unconstitutional. This thesis examines the multimember district with respect to the strength of African American voting strength. The question seeks to respond to the following questions: What is the present state of the law with respect to multimember districts? Have court decisions with respect to multimember districts advanced the objectives of the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
The passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped set the stage for the elimination of the once extensive problem of minority disfranchisement. The act's most significant clauses were its exclusion of literacy requirements and its ban on any registration requirement that discriminated against minority groups. An additional significant feature of the Voting Rights Act was its deployment of federal examiners to enforce the law. The Voting Rights Act (VRA) is widely regarded as the most effective piece of civil rights legislation enacted in the United States. Adopted initially in 1965 to protect the voting rights of African Americans, it was expanded in 1975 to protect the voting rights of specified language minorities......
