President Lyndon B. Johnson meeting Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation that prevents discrimination against voters on the basis of race or skin color. On 6 August 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, prohibiting any state laws discriminating against people of different ethnicities, races, or language groups from being passed. Bilingual ballots and other election materials were created, and the Voting Rights Act remains one of the most important pieces of legislation passed during the Civil Rights movement period.