CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND THE RISE OF POLITICAL INFLUENCE OF BLACK SOUTHERNERS Ji Hong(109) The American South has undergone during the last four decades unprecedented chan ges, of which the most important ones are the rise of voting rate of black peopl e and the increase of elected black officials. The civil rights movement aroused the political consciousness of black people in the South. The Voting Right Act of 1965 ended the centurylong history of hampering blacks in the South from vo ting. Thus with voting right in their hands the Black started their change from being inferior citizens to participants in political affairs.