U.S. Voting Rights History Quiz

What did the 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, guarantee?

• Women's suffrage

• The right to vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude

• The right to vote for all citizens 18 years and older

• The direct election of Senators

What were Jim Crow laws primarily designed to do?

• Promote racial integration

• Enforce segregation and disenfranchise African Americans

• Protect voting rights for all

• Encourage economic growth in the South

What was a common requirement that prevented many African Americans from voting before the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

• Citizenship tests

• Poll taxes

• Property ownership

• Military service

What did literacy tests function as before the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

• A way to improve education

• A method to ensure all voters were well-informed

• A barrier to prevent many African Americans from voting

• A requirement for all first-time voters

What significant event occurred during Freedom Summer in 1964?

• The ratification of the 19th Amendment

• The launch of a campaign to register African American voters in Mississippi

• The introduction of the 26th Amendment

• The Supreme Court ruling in Shelby County v. Holder

What was the primary goal of the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

• To lower the voting age to 18

• To eliminate racial discrimination in voting

• To grant women the right to vote

• To require voter ID laws

What was the outcome of the Supreme Court case Shelby County v. Holder in 2013?

• It upheld the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in its entirety

• It introduced a new amendment to protect voting rights

• It invalidated a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

• It extended the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for another 25 years

What did the 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, achieve?

• It abolished slavery

• It lowered the voting age to 18

• It granted women the right to vote

• It made poll taxes illegal

What change did the 26th Amendment, ratified in 1971, make to voting rights in the United States?

• It allowed non-citizens to vote

• It prohibited the use of literacy tests

• It lowered the voting age from 21 to 18

• It granted voting rights regardless of gender

Why were poll taxes and literacy tests used by some states?

• To increase voter turnout

• To ensure the integrity of elections

• To disenfranchise African American voters

• To fund public education