Humankind documentary: The Right to Vote — a history of voting rights in America

LBJ signs Voting Rights Act
President Lyndon Baines Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in a ceremony in the President's Room near the Senate Chambers on Capitol Hill in Washington in August 1965.
AP Photo file

Humankind documentary, “The Right to Vote: a history of voting rights in America,” explores the long and controversial history of America's decisions about who gets to vote.

It begins with the franchise finally given to freed — male — slaves, and includes the women's suffrage movement, the long struggle to achieve the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the voter ID and felon enfranchisement debates of today.

After the death of lifelong civil rights and voting rights activist, Rep. John Lewis, some of his colleagues are calling for passage of the “John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of 2020.”

"The Right to Vote" was produced by David Freudberg for the Humankind series, with WGBH Boston.

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