Lowndes County Voters

African Americans in Lowndes County wait in line to vote in November 1966. Prior to passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, very few African Americans had been able to register and vote there because of obstacles like poll taxes, literacy tests, and local voting officials who imposed more rigorous standards for African Americans than whites. The Act, along with federal court cases, outlawed various voting procedures and regulations designed to deny African Americans suffrage and led to a surge in voting and officeholding.