How Did The Voting Rights Act Of 1965

The 60’s were the decay of change through the civil rights movement with one being the renewing of our voting rights. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. This voting act was aimed to overcome legal barriers that prevented Blacks from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment of 1870. The new act was considered among the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history. It provided nationwide protections for voting rights that prohibits every state and local government from imposing any voting law that results in discrimination against racial or language minorities. One other provisions specifically outlaw
Something inside me was saying “get away before you are taken hostage”. Did I want to be like so many of the young Blacks who stayed? To be a hostage would mean either to be caught in a cycle or trapped in a system. These two sound like the same thing, but they are different. To be caught in a cycle means getting into a routine with no growth mentally or physically. Trapped in a system takes you from your cycle and put you through a prison system that command certain rules to you. Either way you are locked in a community with no way out. I couldn’t see myself finding a job outside the community to spend 8 to 10 hours, but returning for the remaining hours of daily life. A large number of my peers would not find work, so their source of income would be from other temporary work or by illegal means. Like many of their fathers, this would be another generation getting stuck in a no win situation, where they would be controlled by another Jim Crow law created by the local jail system. Getting in trouble with the local law would mean complying to the newly documented Jim Crow laws under a different name. I could not afford to have my legal rights taken away before I had a chance to use them, so I made a conscious decision to leave my hometown. I had to get out of the hood that I was in. Hood was the term we used to describe or local community. Others from the outside
Truman signed Executive Order 9981 integrating the military and mandating equality of treatment and opportunity. Although the military was integrated on paper, you could still physically see the division in the navy. If a person didn’t go to some type of school after boot camp, then the navy had the options of placing you according to their needs. A high number of Blacks were in non-skilled areas such as boatswain mate; they maintained the surface of the ship or Ship’s Serviceman who managed and operated the shipboard retail and service activities which included the ship's store, barber shops and laundry operations. Another non-white group was drafted seemly for the Steward jobs. The steward position served food and drinks along with attending the sleeping quarters for naval officers and official guests. Because I learned how to type in high school and displayed that trade in boot camp, I was fortunate enough to avoid the unskilled and service