August 6, 2014

Voting Rights Act Signed Into Law Today in 1965


African Americans demonstrating for voting rights in front of the White House as police and others watch; sign reads “We demand the right to vote everywhere.” Warren K. Leffler/Library of Congress

President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law today in 1965. Conservatives began work to chip away at it immediately, culminating in the 2013 Supreme Court decision, Shelby County v. Holder which, in the New York Times‘ words, “effectively struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act.”

President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act as Martin Luther King, Jr, and other civil rights leaders look on. Yoichi Okamoto/LBJ Library

 

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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