Aug 6, 2025 - Politics & Policy

In photos: Voting Rights Act of 1965 turns 60

Russell Contreras

Black and white photo of President Lyndon B. Johnson handing a pen to civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr in suits and shaking hands in a formal setting with curtains and ornate walls in the background. — President Lyndon B. Johnson hands a pen to civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr during the signing of the Voting Rights Act, Washington D.C., August 6, 1965. Photo: Washington Bureau/Getty Image

Wednesday marks the 60th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — a law aimed at ending discrimination and violence against Black Americans, Latinos and Indigenous people attempting to vote.

Through the lens: To commemorate the historical moment, here are some images that led to the law and its aftermath that transformed the United States into a genuine multiracial democracy.

Black and white photo of five people at a voting or registration table outside a PURE gas station, one Blackwoman raising her hand, men holding papers, and a man in a fedora handling documents. — South Carolina Black Americans vote for the first time in 1948. It was still rare in the American South at the time because of discrimination. Photo: North Carolina Central University via Getty Images

Black and white photo of a white police officer in helmet and uniform with baton confronting two Black men in dark coats and hats indoors trying to register to vote, while other officers and men watch. — Dallas County Sheriff Jim Clark waves a nightstick as he tells a group of Black Americans taking part in the Selma Voting Rights Campaign to leave the county courthouse in Selma, Alabama, Feb. 1, 1965. The campaigners told Clark they were seeking the voting registrar. Photo: Bettmann/Contributor via Getty Images

Black and white image of police in helmets and gas masks wielding batons confronting and chasing people across a street near a busy roadside area under cloudy sky. — Police officers attacked Civil Rights marchers in Selma, Alabama, who were attempting to begin a 50-mile march to Montgomery to protest racial discrimination in voter registration. Photo: Bettmann/Contributor via Getty Images

Black and white photo of a group of Black men holding American flags, standing solemnly in front of a house with intricate porch railings during a parade or demonstration. — Marchers, carrying state and American flags, pause for a moment of silence during the Selma to Montgomery march held in support of voter rights in Alabama in late March of 1965. Photo: Robert Abbott Sengstacke/Getty Images

Black and white photo of a formal meeting in an ornately decorated room; President Johnson is shaking hands with Martin Luther King Jr., surrounded by men and women in suits and dresses. — President Johnson celebrates with Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy, and Clarence Mitchell after signing the Voting Rights bill into law on Aug. 6, 1965. Photo: Corbis via Getty Images

Black and white photo of Black Americans in a line outside a wooden building labeled "The Sugar Shack" with people dressed in mid-20th-century attire. — Black American voters, able to vote for the first time in rural Wilcox County, Alabama, line up in front of a polling station at The Sugar Shack, a local general store in 1966. Photo: Bettmann/Contributor via Getty Images

Black and white photo of nine women standing outside holding up 'VOTE' flyers, dressed in 1970s style with afros and glasses, promoting voter participation. — Students Christine Gaither, Jaye Mizelle, Gerelyn Jierguson, Sonja Jierguson, Edith Auery, Diana Boney, Lavern Williams and Mavine Foyner hold up voting pamphlets on the campus of North Carolina Central University at the Alfonso Elder Student Union in the 1970s in Durham, North Carolina. Photo: North Carolina Central University via Getty Images

A group of men, including a seated white man in a gray suit and tie, surrounded by smiling Black men in varied attire, including clerical collars and colorful sweaters, in a formal setting. — Civil Rights leaders meet with Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace, once a staunch segregationist, in his office in Selma, Alabama, on the 20th anniversary march from Selma to Montgomery, celebrating the 1965 Voting Rights Act in 1985. Photo: Carey Womack/Bettmann /Contributor via Getty Images

Group of Latinos raising their right hands in a meeting room, with a banner above reading "Voto Es Su" in red and green. — Deputy Clerk with the Harris County Tax Office, Lynette Vezia, swears in volunteers to help get more Hispanic voters registered in 1991. Photo: Gaylon Wampler/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

A Navajo man wearing a black cowboy hat, sunglasses, and a blue bandana over his face stands against a cloudy sky, with two voting buttons pinned to his brown jacket. — A member of the Navajo Nation participates in the event "Ride to the Polls" in Kayenta, Arizona, on Nov. 5, 2024. Photo: Ernesto Benavides/AFP via Getty Images

People outside a voting location with a U.S. flag, multilingual "Vote here" sign, and election notices on a brown wall during daytime. — Asian Americans vote on Election Day at a Denny's Restaurant in Temple City, Los Angeles County, on Nov. 6, 2012 in California. Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Jesse Jackson in a black coat and scarf, eyes closed, holding a woman's hand; people around him, one clapping, in a serious, supportive scene. — A frail Jesse Jackson takes part in a prayer (his hand is being held by U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters) when the marchers stopped on the bridge in March 2025 to remember marchers and John Lewis, who took part in Bloody Sunday in Selma. Photo: Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images

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In photos: Voting Rights Act of 1965 turns 60

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