Martin Luther King Jr

"The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men." ( Lyndon B Johnson). Martin Luther King Jr is the public face of the Civil Rights Movement and through his legendary acts of nonviolent protests,such as marches and acts of civil disobedience. Through such methods he was able to ensure the right to vote for African Americans. Until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 state and local governments made it almost impossible for African Americans to vote even with the 15th amendment in place to keep such things from happening. Martin Luther King did not simply help to gain the right to vote for a disenfranchised people, but by extension he was able to make state and local governments accountable for local practices that infringed on constitutional rights. The trials that African Americans had to go through in order to vote such as police brutality, poll taxes and literacy tests are not the issues that face current African Americans or any other voter for that matter, but it is also untrue to say that there are no longer racial issues that could discourage someone from wanting to vote but the likelihood that it is on the same scale as the 1960s is very slim.