Voting Rights in America
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A general overview of the history, issues, organizations, and people that everyone should know. A great place to start your deep dive or to find answers to commonly asked questions
The Fight to Vote
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A comprehensive history of voting rights in the U.S. from 1787 to 2016
The Right to Vote
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An extremely expansive history of voting rights in the U.S. from the Revolution to the early 2000s. A heavy read to tackle cover to cover but an extensive index makes this book a helpful resource for information on specific topics
The Most Fundamental Right
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A collection of essays offering both sides to several of the major debates surrounding the renewal of the Voting Rights Act in the early 2000s. Presenting two sides to each debate, this book sets up and discusses many of the questions that were asked later by the Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder
Ballot Blocked
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This book shows changes over time to the Voting Rights Act from its creation to Shelby County v. Holder (2013) through an examination of congressional acts and Supreme Court decisions regarding the VRA
The Court V. the Voters
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This book analyzes 9 landmark Supreme Court cases from 1974 to 2021 in an attempt to display a pattern of the Supreme Court stripping American’s voting rights
Resources on the 14th Amendment which established birthright citizenship, granted citizenship to all formerly enslaved individuals, and established equal protection under U.S. law, and the 15th Amendment which granted the right to vote to Black and formerly enslaved men nationally.
The Second Founding
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In this critically acclaimed book author Eric Foner argues that the Reconstruction amendments to the Constitution fundamentally changed the way we understand the Constitution and US citizenship and that we can see these changes carried through to today as we continue to debate the same questions that these amendments were responding to
Suffrage Reconstructed
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In this book, Free articulates the conflict between race and gender in the fight for suffrage during the Civil War and Reconstruction eras
African American Women and the Vote, 1837-1965
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This collection of essays details the contributions of and troubles faced by Black women in the fight for suffrage over a century, from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement
The Woman's Hour
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A detailed and suspenseful narrative about the fight for the final state to ratify the 19th Amendment in 1920. Weiss details the overall conflict of women's suffrage as well as conflicts within the movement
Vanguard
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Author Martha Jones shines new light on the American Women's Movement by highlighting two centuries of Black women who were at the forefront of various periods of the fight for women's suffrage. Jones makes clear how the intersection between race and gender changed the fight for Black women compared to their white counterparts
Why They Marched
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An account of the fight for the 19th amendment that follows the intertwining stories of 19 suffragists across the country
Resources on the Indian Citizenship Act which granted Native Americans U.S. citizenship but not full voting rights.
Native Vote
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This book takes readers through the history of the Native American struggle for the right to vote, through 200 years of denial, the right to citizenship without the right to vote, and eventually, full enfranchisement
Resources on the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights era.
Freedom Summer
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A thoroughly researched account of the summer that volunteers took to Mississippi to register Black voters and were met with violence. Watson tells the story of this summer through in-depth interviews with the people who were there and offers important information on the political state of Mississippi to set the scene
King: a Life
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A well-rounded, if lengthy, history of Martin Luther King Jr. that offers perspectives of him as a revolution leader as well a person
March: Book One
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The first in a trilogy of graphic novels that recount John Lewis' experiences during the Civil Rights Movement
Walking with the Wind
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The story of the Civil Rights Movement told through the eyes of a frontline activist, Lewis shares the story of his life, his versions of key events, and how the values and philosophy of the Movement carry into the politics of the time that he was writing
Eyes on the Prize
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A companion to the documentary series linked above, this book is good place to learn the basics of the movement and immediate political context, though it is dated. Be aware that this book limits its discussion of civil rights to the peak of the movement and does little to make clear that the Civil Rights Movement did not evolve out of nowhere
Until I Am Free
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A biography of Fannie Lou Hamer, an activist who sat at the intersection of civil rights and women's rights and was at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement. Author Keisha Blain connects moments in Hamer's life to modern stories of resistance as she brings the Civil Rights Movement and Hamer's life into the 21st century
Resources on Shelby County v. Holder (2013), the recent Supreme Court case that struck down the Voting Rights Act.