Fifty years after the Voting Rights Act was signed, it's still contentious. But the Los Angeles Times' coverage of that day in 1965 shows the excitement and anticipation surrounding the landmark law, which was created to remove barriers that were unfairly keeping African Americans away from the polls.
Here’s a look back at The Times’ coverage from the week the law was signed.
A symbolic date
In signing the bill into law Aug. 6, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed it would strike away “the last major shackles of America’s Negroes,” according to a front-page article in The Times.