This day in history: Voting Rights of 1965 signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson

Editor’s note: This article is part of We the People, a series marking the upcoming 250th birthday of the United States of America by Gray Media, Atlanta News First’s parent company.

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - On Aug. 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law.

The landmark legislation dramatically increased voter registration and participation among African Americans in Georgia and across the South, reshaping the nation’s political landscape and advancing civil rights.

The Voting Rights Act’s passage profoundly changed Georgia’s electorate and advanced social justice.

Civil rights icon Andrew Young, a key architect of the Voting Rights Act alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., helped draft the legislation that banned literacy tests and introduced federal oversight for jurisdictions with histories of voter suppression. His daughter, Andrea Young, now executive director of the ACLU of Georgia, was just 6 years old at the time.

“You had Lyndon Johnson, a southerner who was very much instrumental. You had Martin Luther King. You had my dad. You had, you know, thousands of people of all backgrounds who marched,” Andrea Young said. “It was a real statement in America about the importance of really living up to the promise.”

Today, Andrea Young’s organization has filed dozens of legal challenges against local and state governments across Georgia, using the original statute to fight for fair voting access.

“There is still power in the hands of the voters,” she said. “But there are things happening at the margins to make it more difficult for young voters, lower-income voters.”

The Voting Rights Act has faced significant setbacks over the decades. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key provision that required federal oversight of certain jurisdictions with histories of racial discrimination in voting. That decision paved the way for new state-level laws, including Georgia’s 2021 election law, which added stricter voter ID requirements and limited the use of ballot drop boxes and absentee voting.

Supporters of the law say the changes are aimed at preventing fraud, but critics argue the measures disproportionately impact voters of color.

Sen. Raphael Warnock, a pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, once led by the late Congressman John Lewis, has called for the restoration of federal protections through the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The legislation aims to modernize and reinstate the oversight powers of the original 1965 law.

“A vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and our children,” Warnock said.

Despite legal challenges and legislative changes, voter turnout among Black Georgians continues to rise. In recent elections, Black voters have helped drive the state to record turnout levels — even amid stricter rules.

University of Georgia professor Charles Bullock, a scholar of Southern politics who has written extensively on the Voting Rights Act, said the law has had a measurable impact.

“In most majority-Black districts, you now see more diverse politicians elected to city councils, school boards, and county commissions,” Bullock said. “But it’s not a one-to-one translation — and that’s likely a result of how some of the districts are drawn.”

ALSO: In the early 1970s, Atlanta, like many U.S. cities, faced challenges with rising crime.

On August 5, 1973, local news reported on new police initiatives and community partnerships aimed at curbing violence, a reminder of the city’s ongoing efforts to balance growth with public safety.

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