Law Commons^™

Voting Rights Or Voting Entitlements?, James J. Sample

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

It took nearly 100 years after the United States gained its independence for African American men to secure the right to vote, and almost 150 years for African American women. A right perceived—though not de facto honored—as fundamental for all Americans today was fought for in a war less than two centuries ago, costing 620,000 lives. The country quite literally divided over the idea that African Americans should be afforded basic human rights. Today, resistance to the franchise—to what the mythology of America 'stands for'—is not remotely erased, but rather, newly emboldened, even if it masquerades under more obfuscating terminology. …