Aim for FiveUS History

Short answer: non-text source

Voter registration before and after the Voting Rights Act

  • Unit 8
  • 3 points
  • About 13 minutes

You analyze a chart, table, map or image and answer three short parts about what it shows and the history behind it. Here the source is a data table. On the exam: Short-answer question 3 of 3, required; the three short-answer questions share a 40-minute section worth 20% of the score.

The question and its sources

On the exam this question's source is a chart, map or image; here it's a data table. Use the table to answer parts a, b and c. Write a few sentences for each part; you don't need a thesis.

Percent of voting-age population registered to vote, before and after the Voting Rights Act of 1965

StateNonwhite, before the ActNonwhite, after the ActWhite, before the ActWhite, after the Act
Alabama19.3%51.6%69.2%89.6%
Georgia27.4%52.6%62.6%80.3%
Louisiana31.6%58.9%80.5%93.1%
Mississippi6.7%59.8%69.9%91.5%
South Carolina37.3%51.2%75.7%81.7%
Virginia38.3%55.6%61.1%63.4%

Source: U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Political Participation (Washington, D.C., 1968). “Before” figures are estimates from 1962–1964; “after” figures are from 1966–1967. “Nonwhite” is the source's term; in these states it means mostly Black Americans.

Suggested time: 13 minutes

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Part (a)

1 point

Briefly describe ONE change in voter registration shown in the table.

0 / 2,500 characters

Part (b)

1 point

Briefly explain ONE specific action taken by civil rights activists in the period 1960 to 1965 that helped lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

0 / 2,500 characters

Part (c)

1 point

Briefly explain ONE way the changes in voter registration shown in the table affected American politics in the period 1965 to 1980.

0 / 2,500 characters

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