Join us for “From Bloody Sunday to Today: the Fight for the Right to Vote”
On March 7, 1965, John Lewis, Hosea Williams, and 600 civil rights marchers were viciously beaten and tear gassed by Alabama state and local police at the Edmund Pettus Bridge as they embarked on a march from Selma to Montgomery to demand voting rights. “Bloody Sunday” ignited the conscience of the nation and led to the Voting Rights Act, passed five months later.
Today the fight to ensure every eligible American has the right to vote has taken on new urgency. Since the 2013 Supreme Court Decision, Shelby v. Holder, that removed federal oversight of states with long histories of voter suppression, there has been a dramatic rise in state laws that restrict people's right to vote. In fact, since the 2020 election, state legislators have introduced four times as many bills that surpess people’s basic right to vote as last year.
The League is pleased to co-sponsor “From Bloody Sunday to Today: The Fight for the Right to Vote,” an in-depth conversation among nationally recognized experts, presented by the Workers Circle and the Center for Common Ground. There will be ASL and live captioning provided.
Presenters will look back at what it took to get the Voting Rights Act passed, how it expanded the vote, the ongoing attempts to subvert it, and how passing voting rights legislation in 2021 is an urgent matter of racial justice and critical to strengthening our democracy. You’ll leave this conversation equipped and inspired to take action.
