What laws and amendments ended legal discrimination and protected voting rights?
Analyze the major civil rights legislation, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Twenty-fourth Amendment, and the federal government's role in protecting rights (TEKS US History RC3 Government and Citizenship; RC1 History).
A STAAR-level answer on civil rights legislation for the Texas US History EOC: the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Twenty-fourth Amendment, the role of President Johnson and the Great Society, and the expansion of federal protection of rights, with worked stimulus questions.
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What this topic is asking
The civil rights movement's pressure produced landmark federal laws that ended legal discrimination. The TEKS want you to explain the major civil rights legislation, especially the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Twenty-fourth Amendment, and the federal government's role in protecting rights. This is a core Reporting Category 3 (Government and Citizenship) topic.
The push for federal action
The protests, sacrifices, and televised violence of the civil rights movement created national pressure for the federal government to act. President Lyndon B. Johnson, who took office after President Kennedy's assassination, used his political skill and the movement's momentum to push major civil rights laws through Congress as part of his Great Society reform program.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
This was the most sweeping civil rights law since Reconstruction. It made segregation in public places illegal across the country and created tools to fight job discrimination, striking at the heart of Jim Crow.
The Twenty-fourth Amendment and the Voting Rights Act
Two measures targeted the right to vote, which Southern states had long denied to Black citizens through various devices:
- The Twenty-fourth Amendment (1964) banned the poll tax, a fee for voting used to disenfranchise poor and Black voters.
- The Voting Rights Act of 1965 banned literacy tests and other discriminatory practices and authorized federal oversight of voter registration and elections in areas with a history of discrimination.
Expanding the federal role
Try this
Q1. State what the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did. [2]
- Cue. It outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, banning segregation in public accommodations and discrimination in employment.
Q2. Explain why the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was significant. [2]
- Cue. It banned literacy tests and other discriminatory practices and authorized federal oversight of elections, dramatically increasing Black voter registration in the South and protecting the right to vote.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of TEA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
STAAR (US History, style)1 marksThe Voting Rights Act of 1965 was most significant because itShow worked answer →
A single-select item (Reporting Category 3, Government and Citizenship).
Correct answer: it banned discriminatory practices such as literacy tests and authorized federal oversight to protect African Americans' right to vote.
Markers reward identifying the act as the law that protected voting rights by ending barriers like literacy tests. Distractors that credit it with desegregating schools (Brown) or banning job discrimination (Civil Rights Act of 1964) confuse the measures.
STAAR (US History, style)2 marksPart A: What did the Civil Rights Act of 1964 do? Part B: Explain how civil rights legislation expanded the role of the federal government.Show worked answer →
A two-part evidence-based item (Reporting Category 3, Government and Citizenship).
Part A (1 point): the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, and banned segregation in public accommodations and discrimination in employment.
Part B (1 point): explain that by enforcing equal rights and banning discrimination nationwide, the federal government took on a stronger role in protecting individual rights against state and local discrimination, overriding state segregation laws.
Markers reward describing the act's protections and explaining the expansion of federal authority to protect civil rights.
Related dot points
- Analyze the African American civil rights movement, including Brown v. Board of Education, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, nonviolent protest, and leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall (TEKS US History RC3 Government and Citizenship; RC1 History).
A STAAR-level answer on the civil rights movement for the Texas US History EOC: the end of legal segregation through Brown v. Board of Education, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, nonviolent protest and civil disobedience, the March on Washington, and leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall, with worked stimulus questions.
- Analyze the rights movements that followed the African American civil rights movement, including the women's movement, the Latino and Chicano movement led by figures such as Cesar Chavez, and the American Indian movement (TEKS US History RC2 Geography and Culture; RC3 Government and Citizenship).
A STAAR-level answer on the expanding rights movements for the Texas US History EOC: the women's movement and figures such as Betty Friedan, the Latino and Chicano movement led by Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers, and the American Indian movement, with worked stimulus questions.
- Analyze the origins of the Cold War, the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the policy of containment, including the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and NATO (TEKS US History RC1 History; RC3 Government and Citizenship).
A STAAR-level answer on the origins of the Cold War for the Texas US History EOC: the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, the iron curtain, and the policy of containment through the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and NATO, with worked stimulus questions.
- Analyze the woman suffrage movement, the leadership of Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Chapman Catt, the strategies used, and the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment (TEKS US History RC3 Government and Citizenship; RC1 History).
A STAAR-level answer on the woman suffrage movement for the Texas US History EOC: its nineteenth-century roots, the leadership of Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Chapman Catt, the strategies of the movement, and the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, with worked stimulus questions.
- Analyze the goals and achievements of the Progressive movement, including the muckrakers, reform of business and government, and the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson (TEKS US History RC3 Government and Citizenship; RC4 Economics; RC1 History).
A STAAR-level answer on the Progressive Era for the Texas US History EOC: the muckrakers, reform of business and government, the Pure Food and Drug Act, trust-busting under Theodore Roosevelt, the constitutional amendments, and the leadership of Roosevelt and Wilson, with worked stimulus questions.
Sources & how we know this
- Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies, United States History Studies Since 1877 (19 TAC 113.41) — Texas Education Agency (2018)
- STAAR US History Blueprint Effective as of Academic Year 2022 to 2023 — Texas Education Agency (2022)