Source: Jill Fromer / Getty
As we near the 2018 Midterm Election, CASSIUS has rounded up a few books to help you brush up on your voting rights history.
Read on, then check out what else you need to know before election day.
Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America by Ari Berman
What Folks Say:
“An engrossing narrative history . . . Berman vividly shows that the power to define the scope of voting rights in America has shifted from Congress to the courts.” ― The New York Times Book Review
One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy by Carol Anderson
What Folks Say:
“Anderson has a gift for illustrating how specific historical injustices have repercussive, detrimental influence on contemporary American life. . . . If White Rage is history as even-tempered cultural criticism—it was awarded the 2017 National Book Critics Circle citation in criticism—then One Person, No Vote is history as old-fashioned, coldblooded jeremiad: a lamentation about American democracy in crisis.” – Los Angeles Times
Voting Rights Under Fire: The Continuing Struggle for People of Color by Donathan L. Brown and Michael L. Clemons
What Folks Say:
“A timely and well-written work on an important topic for general readers, senior high school students, and college undergraduates.” — Library Journal
The Voting Rights War: The NAACP and the Ongoing Struggle for Justice by Gloria J. Browne-Marshall and Rev. Dr. C.T. Vivian
What Folks Say:
“Gloria Browne-Marshall’s The Voting Rights War speaks to the frontline contribution of America’s oldest civil rights organization—the NAACP. Her book tells the story from historic grandfather clauses to contemporary voter suppression. The Voting Rights War is a crucial reminder of battles won and lost, and of the many NAACP members who paid the ultimate price for every citizens’ right to vote. It is an important story told by a gifted writer.” — Jerome L. Reide, NAACP Regional Field Director
Suffrage Reconstructed: Gender, Race, and Voting Rights in the Civil War Era by Laura E. Free
What Folks Say:
“A decisive study of the evolution of American suffrage rights in the ante- and immediate post-bellum era(s), Laura Free’s Suffrage Reconstructed makes significant contributions to the field of American intellectual history…. A wide audience of scholars, particularly African American and women’s and gender historians would benefit from reading this text, as well as scholars interested in the political history of New York State.” — New York History
