February 2, 2020

2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment, which gave the right to vote to black men, (but not black women). Southern state legislatures immediately began undermining the protections found in the new amendment. Years of lawsuits and protests followed, but it wasn’t until the rise of the Civil Rights Movement and Voting Rights Act of 1965 that the freedom to vote was enjoyed by a majority of southern blacks.

Today, these freedoms have eroded by ‘gerrymandering’ – or dividing voting districts to gain an unfair majority. Harsh voting restrictions by states have also been enacted to discourage voting among poor blacks.

It may seem disheartening, but the 2018 US midterm election saw a surprising record in the number of minority men and women who were voted into state legislative power coast to coast. The voting tallies sparked new optimism that the historic pendulum was swinging back – again – to equal voting rights for all.

2020 also marks the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

Join us for Sunday Celebration @ 10:30AM