11/19 – Book Talk: Give Us the Ballot, Ari Berman – Memphis, TN

Give Us the Ballot

Book Talk with Author Ari Berman

Thursday, November 19, 6-8pm, State of Tennessee Gallery, Free to the Public

In continuation of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Voting Rights Act of 1965, the museum presents Ari Berman’s book Give us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America. The book is the first narrative history of voting rights since 1965, charting both the transformation of American democracy under the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and the effort to limit voting rights from 1965 to the present day.

The VRA enfranchised millions of Americans and is widely regarded as the crowning achievement of the civil rights movement. And yet, fifty years later, we are still fighting heated battles over race, representation, and political power, with lawmakers devising new strategies to keep minorities out of the voting booth and with the Supreme Court declaring a key part of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional. The book and dialogue discussion is a way to enlighten voters about the powers that lie in the right to vote.
Ari Berman is a contributing writer for The Nation magazine and an Investigative Journalism Fellow at The Nation Institute. He has written extensively about American politics, civil rights and the intersection of money and politics.

Sponsored by the Slomo & Cindy Silvian Foundation.