Primary
US National Archives

Our Documents: Voting Rights Act (1965)

For Students 9th - 10th
Included at this site is the complete text and images of the original document of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This law outlawed the discriminatory voting practices that African Americans had endured.
Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Us History: 1945 1980:civil Rights Act 1964/voting Rights Act 1965

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about the civil rights legislation that outlawed discrimination in jobs, education, housing, public accommodations, and voting.
Primary
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: Voting Rights Act of 1965

For Students 9th - 10th
This collection uses primary sources to explore the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Primary
NBC

Nbc Learn: Finishing the Dream: 1965: We Shall Overcome

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of archival video clips highlighting a peaceful protest in Alabama in 1965 that ended in a confrontation with state troopers known as "Bloody Sunday." This was followed by a four-day march with Martin Luther King, Jr., and a...
Article
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: The Civil Rights Movement: 1919 1960s

For Students 9th - 10th
Article provides an overview of the Civil Rights Movement in America between 1919 and the 1960s with detailed discussion on racial equality, nonviolence and passive resistance, and segregation.
Interactive
Raleigh Charter High School

Mrs. Newmark's Page: Civil Rights

For Students 9th - 10th
This interactive activity focuses on the Civil Rights Movement.
Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: The Civil Rights Movement and Voting Rights

For Students 9th - 10th
Given the voting rights amendments, students will create an annotated time line that illustrates how voting rights have been extended to various groups of people throughout the history of the United States.
Website
Digital History

Digital History: Affirmative Action and the Case of Allan Bakke [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
The history of affirmative action was interwoven with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Read about how the federal government under both President Kennedy and President Nixon attempted to open up jobs to...
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: Gains and Pains

For Students 5th - 8th
Read about the legal gains made by the civil rights movement, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, juxtaposed against the real-life actions meant to deny African Americans their right to racial equality not just legally, but...
Activity
Constitutional Rights Foundation

Constitutional Rights Foundation: Race and Voting in the Segregated South

For Students 9th - 10th
Article and activity in which students read and analyze the historic challenges faced by African Americans as they sought to gain an unimpeded right to vote in the segregated South followed by activity asking students to evaluate current...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd

For Students 10th - 12th
Selected (9) reading passages (grades 10-12) to pair with "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd. In this novel about family connections and racial equality, Lily Owens and Rosaleen, Lily's housekeeper, run away to Tiburon, South...
Activity
Texas State Library and Archives Commission

Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Aftermath: African American Women and the Vote

For Students 9th - 10th
Though the suffrage movement failed to exclude African-American women, and many obstacles came in the way of their voting (e.g., poll taxes, literacy tests, etc.), "African-American women were not strangers to community activism." Learn...
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society"

For Students 5th - 8th
President Lyndon Johnson launched his legislation plans for his "Great Society" soon after he became president. Read about the many pieces of legislation that were passed in just a few years. See what happened to tarnish Johnson's...
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: Politics From Camelot to Watergate

For Students 5th - 8th
A brief overview of the state of the United States between the election of 1960 and 1968. See how a nation full of enthusiasm and confidence could become so divided in eight short years.
Graphic
Curated OER

Wikipedia: National Historic Landmarks in Alabama: Edmund Pettus Bridge

For Students 9th - 10th
This bridge across the Alabama River is noted for being the site of a bloody encounter during a civil rights march in 1965, an event influential in the passage of that year's Voting Rights Act.