Selma March and “Freedom Summer”(1964)

Selma March and “Freedom Summer” (1964)

Selma March was a series of civil rights protests that took place in 1965 in Selma, Alabama. The three protest marches were part of the voting rights movement and were organized by activists, with the final march allowing protesters to reach the capital in Montgomery. The marches were met with violence and resistance by authorities, including the infamous "Bloody Sunday" incident where marchers were brutally beaten by state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Freedom Summer (1964)

Freedom Summer was a voter registration drive aimed at increasing the number of African American voters in Mississippi. Organized by civil rights groups, the project brought thousands of volunteers, predominantly white college students, to Mississippi to help register African American voters and establish freedom schools. The summer of 1964 saw a backlash of violence from white supremacists, resulting in numerous attacks and murders of activists.

Answer:

Southern state legislatures had passed and maintained a series of discriminatory requirements and practices that had disenfranchised most of the millions of African Americans across the South throughout the 20th century

Explanation:

The discriminatory requirements and practices enforced by Southern state legislatures, such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation tactics, effectively prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote. These requirements were in direct violation of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, but were implemented to uphold white supremacy and maintain the status quo of racial inequality in the South. The Selma March and Freedom Summer were pivotal moments in the civil rights movement that brought national attention to the injustices faced by African Americans in the South and ultimately led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which aimed to dismantle discriminatory voting practices and protect the voting rights of all Americans.

What were some of the discriminatory practices that disenfranchised African Americans in the South during the 20th century?

Southern state legislatures had passed and maintained a series of discriminatory requirements such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation tactics that disenfranchised most of the millions of African Americans across the South throughout the 20th century.