More Than a Ballot, a Voice! Exploring the Power of Voting Rights and Civic Engagement

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson said, “At times, history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama.”

At that moment 60 years ago, Johnson was calling on Congress to pass one of the most significant pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history: the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In this two-day workshop, we honored the 60th anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act by exploring the history of voting rights from the first shots at Lexington and Concord to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Because, as Johnson said, “The history of this country in large measure is the history of expansion of that right to all of our people.”

The workshop was open to K–12 educators and to all who impacted student learning. It combined cutting-edge scholarship about history and law with engaging curriculum and pedagogical tools to bring that history to life.