Renew the Voting Rights Act.Atlanta On August 6, tens of thousands of demonstrators marched in Atlanta to demand the renewal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act Voting Rights Act Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1965 to ensure the voting rights of African Americans. Though the Constitution's 15th Amendment (passed 1870) had guaranteed the right to vote regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” . Speakers included the Reverend Jesse Jackson Noun 1. Jesse Jackson - United States civil rights leader who led a national campaign against racial discrimination and ran for presidential nomination (born in 1941) Jesse Louis Jackson, Jackson , Representative John Lewis, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin Shirley Clarke Franklin (born May 10 1945) is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and, since January 7 2002, the mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, a nonpartisan office. . Harry Belafonte and Stevie Wonder also entertained the crowd. Key parts of the Voting Rights Act expire in 2007. "Forty years later, we're still marching for the right to vote," said Lewis, who was bloodied by police during the civil rights movement. "Don't give up, don't give in. Keep the faith. Keep your eye on the prize." For more information, contact the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights under Law, often simply The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights or Lawyers' Committee is a civil rights organization that was founded in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy. at www.lawyerscomm.org. |
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