It’s 55 years to the day since Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act, the first federal legislation designed to protect American voters from Jim Crow-era racism and voter suppression. To mark the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, our Fight to Vote project is spotlighting American voter suppression through a day of original stories from across the country, in collaboration with newsrooms in the states hit hardest by voting rights issues. In a year of civil unrest, a pandemic and an unprecedented election, commemorating the Voting Rights Act is bittersweetIn a year of deep civil unrest, a raging pandemic, and an unprecedented election, commemorating the Voting Rights Act is bittersweet. The determination of thousands of civil rights activists cleared the way for America to function as an actual democracy that represents all of its citizens. The Guardian has pledged to put the issue of voting rights at the heart of our 2020 coverage.

Source: The Guardian August 06, 2020 09:56 UTC