A Voting Rights Odyssey
Black Enfranchisement in Georgia
Published on 14. January 2003
Book
Hardback
264 pages
978-0-521-81232-0 (ISBN)
Description
From slavery to the white backlash of the 1990s, A Voting Rights Odyssey is a riveting account of the crusade for equal voting rights in Georgia. Written by a veteran civil rights lawyer the book draws upon expert reports and other court records, as well as trial testimony and interviews with the men and women who served as plaintiffs and witnesses in litigation that helped forge a revolution in voting rights. The book explores, and repudiates, the myths of the Reconstruction era that blacks were incapable of voting and holding office. It also catalogues the attempts of the state leadership to maintain white supremacy after the abolition of the white primary, the demands of the Civil Rights Movement, and passage of the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965. A must read for anyone interested in the way in which race has driven and distorted the political process in the South.
Reviews / Votes
"Pulls no punches. . . A valuable addition to civil rights history." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "...accessible and engaging to all readers...This third person history reflects the choice of an unassuming, thoughtful lawyer who possesses a courtly deference to others as the real heroes of good deeds." Southern Changes "Laughlin writes with a historians breadth of knowledge and mastery of research, an advocate's passion and the acute perceptions of a veteran participant in civil rights litigation." Columbia College Today "Pulls no punches. . . A valuable addition to civil rights history." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "...helps explain why Georgia's redistributing battles have become so befuddling." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ..."McDonald's stories evoke drama, as when he relates how Georgia's white supremacist legislature expelled Julian Bond, a black, from the Statehouse in 1965 after Bond was elected to the House. McDonald's expertise as a lawyer is evident throughout the book. His story's larger point is that legislatures can't always be counted on to do the right thing. Blacks won freedom, for the most part, in the courts. In telling his adopted state's story, McDonald finds hope."...Is Knight-Ridder Newspapers, 11/23/2003More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
17 Halftones, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
584 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-81232-0 (9780521812320)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
fm.author_biographical_note1
Content
1. The voting rights act of 1965: a great divide; 2. After the civil war: recreating 'the white man's Georgia'; 3. The dawning of a new day: abolition of the white primary; 4. Passage of the civil rights act of 1957: the white response; 5. One person, one vote: the end of the county unit system and the malapportioned legislature and congressional delegation; 6. The election code of 1964: twilight of the county unit legislature; 7. The voting rights scene outside the golden dome; 8. The voting rights act: how it works; 9. Increased black registration: the white response; 10. 1970 extension of the voting rights act: more white resistance; 11. The 1975 extension of the voting rights act: the private enforcement campaign; 12. Redistricting in the 1980s; 13. 1982: voting rights in the balance; 14. Continued enforcement of the voting rights act; 15. The demise of Georgia's nineteenth-century voter registration system: taking stock of the impact of the voting rights act; 16. Recreating the past: the challenge to the majority vote requirement; 17. The white backlash: redistricting in the 1990s; 18. Keysville, Georgia - a voting rights crusade.