The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that all citizens have the right to vote without regard to their "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." For almost a century the Fifteenth Amendment was a dead letter. Throughout the South millions of nonwhite Americans were excluded from the political process by poll taxes, literacy tests, and other devices. The landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 sought to end that injustice.
In this absorbing book, political scientist Abigail Thernstrom analyzes the radical transformation of the Voting Rights...
The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that all citizens have the right to vote without regard to their "race,...