I recently published an article in the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review titled, “Ending the Cycles of Voter Suppression”. I encourage you to read the full article here.

My article explains three cycles of voter suppression. The first cycle began with the founding of our county. At this time, enslaved Africans were counted as three-fifths of a whole person. From our beginnings as a country, there was a distinction between who would receive the full benefits of citizenship and who would not. This first cycle lasted for about 100 years and ended with the Reconstruction Amendments (the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments). 

During the second cycle, the Reconstruction Amendments were ratified, but then states also passed literacy tests, grandfather clauses, poll taxes, and other disenfranchising mechanisms. These mechanisms essentially eliminated the advances of the Reconstruction Amendments. 

The third cycle began with the passage of the Voting Rights Act, which was passed following Bloody Sunday. The passage of the VRA was and continues to be followed by decades of increasingly aggressive efforts to dismantle it. We are about 60 years into this current cycle. 

Check out the video below where I discuss the cycles of voter suppression with civil rights attorney Angela Groves.