Speech #1140095022

And until 1975. most American citizens who were not proficient in English faced significant obstacles to voting. because they could not understand the ballot. Even though the Indian Citizenship Act gave Native Americans the right to vote in 1924. state law determined who could actually vote. which effectively excluded many Native Americans from political participation for decades. Asian Americans and Asian immigrants also suffered systematic exclusion from the political process. In 1964. the year before the Voting Rights Act became law. there were approximately 300 AfricanAmericans in public office. including just three in Congress. Few. if any. black elected officials were elected anywhere in the South.