#votingrightsact — Public Fediverse posts
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Important American History Moments That Happened in August
African American history is American history, and August includes several major turning points in the nation’s political, cultural, labor and civil-rights story.
From the arrival of Africans at Point Comfort in 1619 to the March on Washington in 1963, the month includes moments of achievement, resistance, tragedy and transformation. August also marks the anniversaries of the Voting Rights Act, Thurgood Marshall’s Supreme Court confirmation and the birth of the nation’s first African American president.
Here are some of the most important African American history dates to remember in August.
August 4, 1961: Barack Obama Was Born
Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961. He became the 44th president of the United States and the first African American to hold the nation’s highest office when he was inaugurated in January 2009.
Obama served two terms as president, from 2009 to 2017. His election represented a historic milestone nearly 150 years after the abolition of slavery and more than four decades after the Voting Rights Act became law.
Learn more from the Obama White House Archives.
August 6, 1965: The Voting Rights Act Was Signed
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, 1965.
The landmark legislation prohibited racially discriminatory voting practices, including literacy tests used to prevent Black citizens from registering to vote. It also authorized federal intervention in jurisdictions with documented histories of discrimination.
The law followed years of organizing and sacrifice by civil-rights activists, including the voting-rights campaign and marches in Selma, Alabama.
Read the Voting Rights Act at the National Archives.
August 9, 1936: Jesse Owens Won His Fourth Olympic Gold Medal
Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin as a member of the United States 4-by-100-meter relay team.
Owens also earned gold medals in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and long jump. His achievements challenged Nazi Germany’s claims of Aryan racial superiority and established him as one of the most accomplished athletes in Olympic history.
Owens returned to a segregated United States, where he continued to face racial discrimination despite his international success.
August 17, 1887: Marcus Garvey Was Born
Marcus Mosiah Garvey was born in Jamaica on August 17, 1887.
Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and became one of the early 20th century’s most influential advocates for Black nationalism, Pan-Africanism and economic independence.
His movement encouraged people of African descent around the world to take pride in their heritage, build Black-owned institutions and pursue political and economic self-determination.
August 18, 1920: The 19th Amendment Was Ratified
The 19th Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920, prohibiting the federal government and states from denying voting rights based on sex.
Although the amendment represented an important victory, it did not guarantee equal access to the ballot for all women. Black women, particularly those living in the South, continued to confront poll taxes, literacy tests, intimidation, violence and other discriminatory barriers.
Black women remained central to the continuing struggle for voting rights, which eventually helped produce the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Explore the 19th Amendment through the National Archives.
August 20, 1619: Africans Arrived at Point Comfort
The arrival of Africans at Point Comfort in the English colony of Virginia is traditionally commemorated on August 20.
Approximately 20 Africans were brought to Virginia aboard the English privateer White Lion in late August 1619. The event became an important moment in the development of racialized slavery in English North America.
The date should be understood within a broader history. Africans were present in other parts of the Americas and North America before 1619, and historians continue to examine the status and experiences of the Africans who arrived in Virginia.
August 21, 1831: Nat Turner’s Rebellion Began
Nat Turner and a group of enslaved people began an uprising in Southampton County, Virginia, on August 21, 1831.
Turner, an enslaved preacher, believed he had been called to lead people out of slavery. The rebellion became one of the most consequential uprisings by enslaved people in United States history.
Authorities responded with executions and widespread violence against Black residents. Southern lawmakers also imposed more restrictive laws designed to control the movement, education and religious activities of enslaved and free Black people.
Learn more from the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
August 25, 1925: The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Was Organized
The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was organized in 1925 under the leadership of A. Philip Randolph.
Pullman porters performed demanding work while facing low wages, long hours and racial discrimination. Their union became a pioneering force in the Black labor movement and eventually secured a landmark collective-bargaining agreement.
The Brotherhood’s organizing helped connect economic justice, workers’ rights and the emerging civil-rights movement.
Explore the history of the Pullman porters through the National Park Service.
August 27, 1963: W.E.B. Du Bois Died
Scholar, author and civil-rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois died in Ghana on August 27, 1963, one day before the March on Washington.
Du Bois was a co-founder of the NAACP and an influential advocate for civil rights, higher education and Pan-African unity. His writings examined race, democracy, economics and the experiences of Black Americans.
His death came as a new generation of activists prepared to gather in Washington to demand jobs, equality and freedom.
August 28, 1955: Emmett Till Was Murdered
Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black teenager from Chicago, was abducted and murdered while visiting relatives in Mississippi on August 28, 1955.
His mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, made the courageous decision to hold an open-casket funeral. Images showing the brutality inflicted on her son were published by Black media outlets and seen around the world.
Till’s murder and the acquittal of the two white men charged with the crime helped galvanize a new generation of civil-rights activists.
Read Emmett Till’s story from the Smithsonian.
August 28, 1963: The March on Washington Took Place
Approximately 250,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963.
The demonstration brought national attention to employment discrimination, segregation, voting rights and the need for comprehensive civil-rights legislation. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
The march became one of the defining events of the Civil Rights Movement and helped build momentum for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Explore the March on Washington through the National Park Service.
August 30, 1967: Thurgood Marshall Was Confirmed to the Supreme Court
The United States Senate confirmed Thurgood Marshall as an associate justice of the Supreme Court on August 30, 1967.
Marshall became the first African American to serve on the nation’s highest court. Before joining the Supreme Court, he was a leading civil-rights attorney who successfully argued Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark case that declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
Marshall served on the Supreme Court from 1967 until 1991.
View the Senate’s historical record.
Why August 28 Is Especially Important in Black History
August 28 stands out as an exceptionally consequential date in African American history.
Emmett Till was murdered on August 28, 1955. Eight years later, the March on Washington brought approximately 250,000 people to the nation’s capital. W.E.B. Du Bois had died in Ghana just one day before the march.
The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture has highlighted August 28 because of the number of major events connected to Black history that have occurred on that date.
Keep Learning About African American History
These anniversaries provide opportunities to learn about the people and movements that transformed the United States. They also remind us that progress resulted from sustained organizing, courage, creativity and sacrifice.
Raleigh residents can continue exploring African American history through local museums, historic sites, libraries, archives and community organizations throughout the year.
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#AfricanAmericanHistory #BarackObama #BlackHistory #BlackLaborHistory #CivilRightsMovement #DoRaleigh #EmmettTill #JesseOwens #MarchOnWashington #MarcusGarvey #NatTurner #News #RaleighHistory #ThurgoodMarshall #VotingRightsAct #WEBDuBois -
‘Beyond court reform, Americans have to reacquaint themselves with constitutional thinking — with the idea that we, the people, make constitutional meaning. To the extent that the Supreme Court claims broad authority to say what our constitution means, it is in large part because we have given this authority to the justices through our indifference.’
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wCgDj8UHfXc#JamelleBouie #VotingRightsAct #americanRacism #antiBlackness #politicalApathy #USConstitution #USSupremeCourt #SCOTUS
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ICYMI Excellent interview about the Voting Rights Act and where it now stands with Sherrill Ifill and Jon Stewart of The Daily Show.
Civil rights lawyer and founding director of Howard Law School's 14th Amendment Center for Law & Democracy, Sherrilyn Ifill, sits down with Jon Stewart to discuss the Supreme Court’s weakening of the Voting Rights Act.
They talk about how the reinstatement for purposeful discrimination overturned the court’s own precedent, how the Voting Rights Act protects the voting strength of minorities and their candidates of choice, and the dangerous potential for Trump and Republicans to redistrict using this precedent in an effort to turn seats in the House.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCse1FFEKLM
#Voting #VotingRights #VotingRightsAct #SherillIfill #JonSteward #TheDailyShow #DailyShow #Louisiana #SupremeCourt
cc: @heidilifeldman
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This, precisely, is the problem:
https://www.contrariannews.org/p/america-becomes-outraged-only-when?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
#scotus #votingrights #vra #dei #louisiana #alabama #votersuppression #gerrymandering #rigged #cherrypicking #mlk #callaisrequirements #callais #minorityrepresentation #reconstruction #justiceelenakagan #nikolehannahjones #attackondemocracy #votingrightsact #civilwar #confederacy #southernstrategy #supplysideeconomics #trickledowntheory #race #gender #socioeconomicstatus #educationallevel #obbb #nabj #project2025 #heritagefoundation -
The #SCOTUS decision on the #VotingRightsAct is exactly what #LeonardLeo and the #FederalistSociety paid for in #ChiefJustice #JohnRoberts
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The #SCOTUS decision on the #VotingRightsAct is exactly what #LeonardLeo and the #FederalistSociety paid for in #ChiefJustice #JohnRoberts
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How the #NativeAmerican Vote Continues to be Suppressed
by Patty Ferguson-Bohnee
February, 2020"The right to vote has been an uphill battle for #NativeAmericans. The #VotingRightsAct of 1965 helped to secure and protect that right for many Native Americans and #AlaskaNatives. With the Voting Rights Act, voter participation among Native Americans increased. However, the Supreme Court invalidated the Section 5 preclearance formula in 2013 (Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013)), removing one of the most powerful tools to ensure equal access to the ballot, including Alaska and Arizona, and two jurisdictions in South Dakota with significant Native American and Alaska Native populations. Since the Shelby County decision, efforts to suppress the vote have increased. For Native Americans, these voter suppression efforts can and do have devastating impacts.
"Despite the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, many Native Americans living on reservations continued to be excluded from the democratic process. In 1948, Native Americans in #NewMexico and #Arizona successfully litigated their right to vote. #Utah and #NorthDakota became the last states to afford on-reservation Native Americans the right to vote in 1957 and 1958, respectively. When the right to vote was finally secured, voter suppression laws kept Native Americans from voting and seeking elected office. In Arizona, for example, Native Americans could not fully participate in voting until 1970 when the Supreme Court upheld the ban against using literacy tests (Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U.S. 112 (1970)). Today, the right to vote continues to be challenged through the passage of new laws and practices that either fail to consider, disregard, or intentionally target Native American voters.
"In order to understand the challenges faced by Native American voters, one must recognize the vast differences in experiences, opportunities, and realities facing on-reservation voters as compared to off-reservation voters.
"I will never forget the #Navajo grandmother who spoke only Navajo and could not vote after Arizona passed its voter ID law in 2004. She tried several times to obtain an Arizona ID on her own but was denied because she was born at home in a hogan, and the boarding schools changed her Navajo name to English. She lived in a modest home on the Navajo Reservation without electricity and running water, and lived a traditional lifestyle taking care of her sheep. She was embarrassed and devastated when she was turned away from the polls for not having an ID. Working with her, a team from the Indian Legal Clinic traveled five hours to meet her at multiple agency offices to obtain her delayed birth certificate; we then went to two separate Motor Vehicle Division Offices. The first one did not issue same-day photo IDs, and the other initially denied her request. The office rejected her delayed Navajo birth certificate, until I was able to intervene and demonstrate to them that it was an acceptable document. The system failed to consider her reality as a Navajo woman and failed to value her as a voter. Fortunately, she was persistent in exercising her right to vote, but not all voters are, nor should they have to be.
"This example helps explain why voting can be difficulty for Native American voters. Turnout for Native Americans is the lowest in the country, as compared to other groups. While a number of issues contribute to the low voter turnout, a study conducted by the Native American Voting Rights Coalition found that low levels of trust in government, lack of information on how and where to register and to vote, long travel distances to register or to vote, low levels of access to the internet, hostility toward Native Americans, and intimidation are obstacles. Isolating conditions such as language barriers, socioeconomic disparities, lack of access to transportation, lack of residential #addresses, lack of access to #mail, and the digital divide limit Native American political participation. Changes to voting processes further frustrate the ability of Native Americans to vote."
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2020: How #NativeAmericans’ #RightToVote has been systematically violated for generations
In the new book Voting in Indian Country, Jean Reith Schroedel weaves together historical and contemporary voting rights conflicts as the election nears
by Nina Lakhani in New York
Fri 16 Oct 2020"#VoterSuppression has taken centre stage in the race to elect potentially the 46th president of the United States. But we’ve heard little about the 5.2 million #Native Americans whose ancestors have called this land home before there was a US president.
"The rights of indigenous communities – including the right to vote – have been systematically violated for generations with devastating consequences for access to #CleaAir and #water, #health, #education, economic opportunities, #housing and #sovereignty. Voter turnout for Native Americans and Alaskan Natives is the lowest in the country, and about one in three eligible voters (1.2 million people) are not registered to vote, according to the National Congress of American Indians.
"In a new book, Voting in Indian County: The View from the Trenches, Jean Reith Schroedel, professor emerita of political science at Claremont Graduate University, weaves together historical and contemporary voting rights conflicts.
"Is the right to vote struggle for Native Americans distinct from the wider struggle faced by marginalized groups in the US?
"One thing few Americans understand is that American Indians and #NativeAlaskans were the last group in the #UnitedStates to get #citizenship and to get the #vote. Even after the civil war and the Reconstruction (13th, 14th and 15th) amendments there was a supreme court decision that said #IndigenousPeople could never become US citizens, and some laws used to disenfranchise them were still in place in 1975. In fact first-generation violations used to deny – not just dilute voting rights – were in place for much longer for Native Americans than any other group. It’s impossible to understand contemporary voter suppression in Indian Country without understanding this historical context.
"Why didn’t the #AmericanIndianCitizenshipAct 1924 nor the #VotingRightsAct (#VRA) 1965 guarantee Native Americans equal access to the ballot box?
"The motivation for the VRA was the egregious treatment of #black people in the south, and for the first 10 years there was a question over whether it even applied to #AmericanIndian and Native Alaskan populations. It wasn’t really discussed until a #CivilRights commission report in 1975 which included cases from #SouthDakota and #Arizona that showed equally egregious #discrimination and absolute denial of right to vote towards Native Americans – and also #Latinos.
"When voter suppression is discussed by politicians, advocates and journalists, it’s mostly about African American voters, and to a lesser degree Latinos. Why are Native Americans still excluded from the conversation?
"Firstly they are a small population and secondly most of the most egregious abuses routinely occur in rural isolated parts of #IndianCountry where there is little media focus. But it’s happening – take Jackson county in South Dakota, a state where the governor has done little to protect people from #Covid. The county council has just decided to close the legally mandated early voting centre on the #PineRidgeReservation, citing concerns about Covid, but not in the voting site in #Kadoka, where the white people go. Regardless of the intent, this will absolutely have a detrimental effect on Native people’s ability to vote. And South Dakota, like many other states, is also a very hard place for Native people to vote by mail. In the primary, the number of people who registered to #VoteByMail increased by 1,000% overall but there was no increase among reservation communities. In #Oglala county, which includes the eastern part of Pine Ridge, turnout was about 10%.
"The right to vote by mail is a hot political and civil rights issue in the 2020 election – could it help increase turnout in Indian Country?
"No, voting by mail is very challenging for Native Americans for multiple reasons. First and foremost, most reservations do not have home mail delivery. Instead, people need to travel to post offices or postal provide sites – little places that offer minimal mail services and are located in places like gas stations and mini-marts. Take the Navajo Nation that encompasses 27,425 square miles – it’s larger than West Virginia, yet there are only 40 places where people can send and receive mail. In West Virginia, there are 725. Not a single PO box on the Navajo Nation has 24-hour access."