|
|
Article: Are our voting rights at risk?(Speaking Of Education)
- Article from:
- Black Issues in Higher Education
- Article date:
- March 11, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Cox, Matthews & Associates. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Will African American voting rights expire in 2007? In this election year, as people are being exhorted to go to the polls to shape the direction of our country, an Internet minor is circulating raising questions about the durability of the African American right to vote. The rumor has amazing durability. Not a week passes without a new query on this matter emerging, usually from a young person.
Here's the real deal: The 15th Amendment, passed in 1870, guarantees that the right to vote shall not be denied on the base of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Southern states, especially, found ways to get around this law with grandfather clauses (which ...