The Birth, Life, and Death of the Voting Rights Act of 1965


ID : 2285   

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ClassGraphic On August 6, 1965, five months after the “Bloody Sunday” attack on civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama, President Johnson signed the 1965 Civil Rights Act into law. Sections 2 and 5 of the Act prohibited any election rule or practice that would “deny or abridge” the right to vote, thus imposing a “permanent, nationwide ban on racial discrimination in voting.” Section 5 required that certain states with histories of discriminatory election laws would need federal pre-clearance for voting law changes.

The 2013 Supreme Court case of Shelby v. Holder all but eliminated the pre-clearance requirement of section 5 and restrictive voting laws immediately followed. On April 29, 2026, the Supreme Court, in Louisiana v. Callais, held that Louisiana’s new congressional map represented “racial gerrymandering” and therefore gutted the protective provisions of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and rendered it useless.

We will spend five weeks not only discussing the life and death of the 1965 Civil Rights Act, but simultaneously examining the 2026 midterm elections. Perhaps we can determine if Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s reference to “throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet” in her Shelby dissent was, in-fact, prophetic.
 
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Class Details

5 Session(s)
Weekly - Wed

Location
OLLI

Instructor
John McGeehan 

 

Notice

Please read:  Suggested Reading: To be assigned on a weekly basis.

Reading Assignment for the First Class: “Finishing Off Voting Rights Act, Supreme Court Declares Racism Over-Again.” 
 

Tuition:  $50.00

Schedule Information

Date(s) Class Days Times Location Instructor(s) Instructional Method
9/16/2026 - 10/14/2026 Weekly - Wed 05:00 PM - 06:30 PM Kingston, OLLI  Map John McGeehan  ClassRoom

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