250 to 250:115. Voting Rights Act, Narrated by Kevin M. Kruse

Happy Constitution and Citizenship Week! 

(updated in process)

Heather Cox Richardson and 250 to 250: Voting Rights Act, Narrated by Kevin M. Kruse

Kevin M. Kruse is a historian and Guggenheim Fellow whose work examines conflicts over race, rights, and religion. He is the author of White Flight and One Nation Under God, and co-editor of the New York Times bestseller Myth America. Kruze examines the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the crowning achievement of the civil rights era whose protections recent Supreme Court decisions have eroded.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

• It was an important civil rights law.
• The law helped protect the right to vote.
• It said people could not be denied the right to vote because of their race or color.
• The law helped enforce the 15th Amendment.
• Many people worked hard and made sacrifices to pass the law.
• The Voting Rights Act helped more people of color take part in politics.

Congress has renewed the Voting Rights Act several times.

• Yet recent Supreme Court decisions have weakened parts of the Voting Rights Act.

President Johnson said that the vote was a powerful way to fight injustice.

• He said: "The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men."
  

POP Interview and Civics Quiz: 

• USCIS N-400 Part 9:02. Have you EVER registered to vote or voted in any Federal, state, or local election in the United States?
• USCIS 100:48 | 128:63. There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote.  Describe one of them.
• USCIS 128:98. When did all men get the right to vote?
• Read: Who has the right to vote? 
• Write: All citizens have the right to vote. 

Family Fun: (check back for further updates)

• Center for Civic Education: Voting, Elections, and Representation playlist
• LWV: Voting Rights Act
• NAACP LDF: The Voting Rights Act of 1965: Reflecting on the Road to the VRA 60 Years After its Passage (timeline)
• NPS: The Voting Rights Act of 1965
• National Postal Museum: 37c To Form a More Perfect Union pane of 10 | Voting Rights Act of 1965 single | Voting by Mail exhibit
• uscitizenpod: Voting Rights Act of 1965 coloring page
• VOA Learning English: Voting Rights Act, 56 Years Later, Is in Danger
• Vox: The voting rights case that could set us back 60 years