Reading While Black Teams Up With NAACP to Visit Selma, Alabama for the 55th Anniversary Bridge Crossing Jubilee

Reading While Black Book Club

In this episode, I teamed up with NAACP Youth & College Division to visit Selma, Alabama for 55th anniversary of the Selma Jubilee. Selma and the Alabama Black Belt were the battlegrounds for the Voting Rights Movement that resulted in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Alabamians stood up and peacefully fought for the right to vote. SNCC, SCLC, national churches and religious organizations, civil rights and labor organizations, and stars of the Movement supported the Alabama Voting Rights Movement. We commemorate and thank them for their work, leadership and sacrifice. Several presidential candidates were in attendance including former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Billionaire Tom Steyer. We had a chance to talk with NAACP Youth & College members from several universities speaking on many of their first experience cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge. I also had a chance to chat with President and CEO of the NAACP Derrick Johnson and newly elected Mayor of Talladega and youngest Mayor in the state of Alabama, Timothy Ragland. March is Women's History and 2020 is an election year, choosing our next book was a no brainer. Our March Book of the Month is One Person, No Vote by Carol Anderson. In her New York Times bestseller White Rage, Carol Anderson laid bare an insidious history of policies that have systematically impeded black progress in America, from 1865 to our combustible present. With One Person, No Vote, she chronicles a related history: the rollbacks to African American participation in the vote since the 2013 Supreme Court decision that eviscerated the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Known as the Shelby ruling, this decision effectively allowed districts with a demonstrated history of racial discrimination to change voting requirements without approval from the Department of Justice. Focusing on the aftermath of Shelby, Anderson follows the astonishing story of government-dictated racial discrimination unfolding before our very eyes as more and more states adopt voter suppression laws. In gripping, enlightening detail she explains how voter suppression works, from photo ID requirements to gerrymandering to poll closures. And with vivid characters, she explores the resistance: the organizing, activism, and court battles to restore the basic right to vote to all Americans as the nation gears up for the 2018 midterm elections. If you live in the Montgomery, AL area, you can pick it up at your local abolition bookstore 1977 Books. 1977 Books is located at 39 Dexter Ave Suite #209, Montgomery, AL 36104. Facebook: 1977 Books Instagram: @1977Books Twitter: @1977Books Remember to leave us a Voice Message so you can share your reading experience and be a part of the podcast. Remember to check out Reading While Black Merch Use promo code “RWBFAM” for 35% off Remember to leave a review and 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Follow Us: Twitter: @ReadingWhileBLK Instagram: @ReadingWhileBLK www.readingwhileblackbookclub.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/readingwhileblk/message