Voting Rights Timeline

The Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire.

On February 26, 1869 Congress passed the 15th amendment giving African American men the equal right to vote.
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Images/15th.jpg

Congress adopted the 19th amendment on June 4, 1919. The states ratified this amendment making it a national law, giving women the right to vote.
http://www.femalesinfront.eu/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/vote.jpg

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Political Rights of Women, which went into effect in 1954. This allowed and gave women the right to vote, hold office, and access public services set out by national laws.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zg786nkxtOs/TlxeqIBp_2I/AAAAAAAAAMY/HNgwNFrywbo/s1600/RoseSanderson-WomenSuffragists-LR.jpg

Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1957, giving the U.S. Attorney General the authority to bring lawsuits on behalf of African Americans denied the right to vote.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/archive/09/0912001r.jpg

Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1960, giving the Department of Justice access to records related to voter registration and allowed previously rejected Blacks to apply to a federal court or voting referee.
http://colorlines.com/assets_c/2012/03/voting_rights_1960-thumb-640xauto-5660.jpg

Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1964, making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, religion, and gender in voting, public places, the workplace and schools.
http://colorlines.com/archival_images/mlk-civilrightsact.jpg

Passed on August 6, 1965. This act prohibited states from imposing any qualification to deny or disqualify the right of any U.S. citizen to vote based on race or color.
http://www.crmvet.org/crmpics/vote.jpg

The Voting Rights Act had been renewed by Congress four times. In 2006 President George W. Bush signed a 25 year extension to make it the most recent change in the Act.
http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/11/30/Bush_votingrights_wide-66d0a553e2844cf9cc885f223fefde005277b78b-s6-c10.jpg