Voting for Racial Justice: How Pro Bono and Voting Rights Align
Voting is one of the most valued rights in America today, and as the Supreme Court noted more than a century ago, it is “preservative of all rights.” However, the battle for enfranchisement has been anything but straightforward. When America was founded, the right to vote was determined by the states and largely the exclusive province of white, property-owning men over the age of 21. It wasn’t until 1856 that all white men were given the right to vote, and it took another 14 years for men of color to gain the right to vote by law. However, laws are no better than their implementation, and our history is rich with examples of prejudicial barriers designed to keep eligible voters of color from the polls (e.g. poll taxes, literacy tests, and impersonation/intimidation) for generations after the U.S. Constitution was amended to proscribe racial discrimination at the state level regarding voting rights. Women didn’t gain the right to vote nationwide until 1920, followed by Native Americans, who were granted citizenship (and therefore the right to vote) with the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924, and finally Asian Americans in 1952.