One of America's most important civil rights laws was signed 50 years ago today
Aug 6, 2015, 22:26 IST
Thursday, August 6 marks 50 years since President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
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The seminal legislation made racial discrimination in voting illegal. But it also came after years of bloody, and sometimes deadly, confrontation between the African-American and white community.
These dramatic photos depict the dramatic confrontations that preceded the passage of the law, part of which the Supreme Court struck down in 2013.