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Stolen Justice: The Struggle for African American Voting Rights
Following the Civil War, the Reconstruction era raised a new question to those in power in the US: should African Americans, so many of them former slaves, be granted the right to vote?
In a bitter partisan fight over the legislature and Constitution, the answer eventually became yes, though only after two constitutional amendments, two Reconstruction Acts, two Civil Rights Acts, three Enforcement Acts, the impeachment of a president, and an army of occupation. Yet, even that was not enough to ensure that African American voices would be heard, or their lives protected. White supremacists loudly and intentionally prevented black Americans from voting -- and they were willing to kill to do so.
In this portrait of the systematic suppression of the African American vote, author Lawrence Goldstone traces the injustices of the post-Reconstruction era through the eyes of individuals, both heroic and barbaric, and examines the legal cases that made the Supreme Court a partner of white supremacists in the rise of Jim Crow.
In a bitter partisan fight over the legislature and Constitution, the answer eventually became yes, though only after two constitutional amendments, two Reconstruction Acts, two Civil Rights Acts, three Enforcement Acts, the impeachment of a president, and an army of occupation. Yet, even that was not enough to ensure that African American voices would be heard, or their lives protected. White supremacists loudly and intentionally prevented black Americans from voting -- and they were willing to kill to do so.
In this portrait of the systematic suppression of the African American vote, author Lawrence Goldstone traces the injustices of the post-Reconstruction era through the eyes of individuals, both heroic and barbaric, and examines the legal cases that made the Supreme Court a partner of white supremacists in the rise of Jim Crow.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 7, 2020
15 people are currently reading
1186 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence Goldstone
45 books199 followersLawrence Goldstone is the author of fourteen books of both fiction and non-fiction. Six of those books were co-authored with his wife, Nancy, but they now write separately to save what is left of their dishes.
Goldstone's articles, reviews, and opinion pieces have appeared in, among other publications, the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Hartford Courant, and Berkshire Eagle. He has also written for a number of magazines that have gone bust, although he denies any cause and effect.
His first novel, Rights, won a New American Writing Award but he now cringes at its awkward prose. (Anatomy of Deception and The Astronomer are much better.)
Despite a seemingly incurable tendency to say what's on his mind (thus mortifying Nancy), Goldstone has been widely interviewed on both radio and television, with appearances on, among others, "Fresh Air" (NPR), "To the Best of Our Knowledge" (NPR), "The Faith Middleton Show" (NPR), "Tavis Smiley" (PBS), and Leonard Lopate (WNYC). His work has also been profiled in The New York Times, The Toronto Star, numerous regional newspapers, Salon, and Slate.
Goldstone holds a PhD in American Constitutional Studies from the New School. His friends thus call him DrG, although he can barely touch the rim. (Sigh. Can't make a layup anymore either.) He and his beloved bride founded and ran an innovative series of parent-child book groups, which they documented in Deconstructing Penguins. He has also been a teacher, lecturer, senior member of a Wall Street trading firm, taxi driver, actor, quiz show contestant, and policy analyst at the Hudson Institute.
He is a unerring stock picker. Everything he buys instantly goes down.
Goldstone's articles, reviews, and opinion pieces have appeared in, among other publications, the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Hartford Courant, and Berkshire Eagle. He has also written for a number of magazines that have gone bust, although he denies any cause and effect.
His first novel, Rights, won a New American Writing Award but he now cringes at its awkward prose. (Anatomy of Deception and The Astronomer are much better.)
Despite a seemingly incurable tendency to say what's on his mind (thus mortifying Nancy), Goldstone has been widely interviewed on both radio and television, with appearances on, among others, "Fresh Air" (NPR), "To the Best of Our Knowledge" (NPR), "The Faith Middleton Show" (NPR), "Tavis Smiley" (PBS), and Leonard Lopate (WNYC). His work has also been profiled in The New York Times, The Toronto Star, numerous regional newspapers, Salon, and Slate.
Goldstone holds a PhD in American Constitutional Studies from the New School. His friends thus call him DrG, although he can barely touch the rim. (Sigh. Can't make a layup anymore either.) He and his beloved bride founded and ran an innovative series of parent-child book groups, which they documented in Deconstructing Penguins. He has also been a teacher, lecturer, senior member of a Wall Street trading firm, taxi driver, actor, quiz show contestant, and policy analyst at the Hudson Institute.
He is a unerring stock picker. Everything he buys instantly goes down.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
July 5, 2020
This U.S. history book discusses the erosion of black voters' rights in the years following the Reconstruction era in the South. It's also the same time period when a lot of the Confederate statues and memorials were erected. The author uses lots of primary material, including quotes from the U.S. Supreme Court. I found it a worthwhile, timely read since I didn't know that much about the time period. Again, this material was never covered in school and at the university (History major here).
January 23, 2020
Although this book may be written with a younger reader level in mind, everyone should read this book. I learned so much that is never taught or told. It is appalling that white men would go (and still do) to such lengths to minimize the rights of minorities all the while maximizing their own.
April 27, 2021
Richie’s Picks: STOLEN JUSTICE: THE STRUGGLE FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN VOTING RIGHTS by Lawrence Goldstone, Scholastic Focus, January 2020, 288p., ISBN: 978-1-338-32350-4
“President Donald Trump in recent days shared tweets of Black people being violent and asked why people weren’t protesting over it. These tweets, coming amid nationwide demonstrations over racism and police brutality, echoed the rhetoric of white supremacists and appear to be part of a broader strategy from Trump to exploit fear and prejudice as he fights to salvage his vulnerable reelection campaign. Trump leaned on racism and xenophobia to garner support during his 2016 campaign, and he’s employing a similar approach as the US gets closer to Election Day.”
-- Business Insider, “Trump is increasingly relying on white-supremacy ploys to fire up his base as he panics over his reelection chances” (6/23/20)
“He’s depending on our silence
While he orchestrates our fear
If our neighbors are so satisfied
Why they comin’ here?
I’m gonna vote
I’m gonna vote that mutha out”
-- Little Steven (1984)
“As the 1880s progressed, white supremacists openly and almost gleefully committed voter fraud across the South. In 1900, on the floor of the United States Senate, South Carolina senator “Pitchfork Ben” Tillman would brag about the methods used to deny black citizens the vote in those days. ‘We took the government away. We stuffed ballot boxes. We shot them. We are not ashamed of it.’
Still, these same white supremacists felt as much need to justify this behavior as they had to justify slavery. Since even they knew it would not do to enslave equals--or to steal the government from them--they took the position that people of color were, as a race, simply not equal to whites.
But just how they did this evolved.”
STOLEN JUSTICE is the tale of that evolution. The sordid American history that Lawrence Goldstone recounts in this fascinating and horrifying read makes a mockery of the sentiment in the Declaration of Independence that “All men are created equal.”
STOLEN JUSTICE focuses on national events and Supreme Court cases that unjustly prevented Black Americans from voting, beginning back at the founding of the republic. The author concludes with the 1903 Black voting-related Court case Giles v. Harris, which was decided in the wake of the infamous 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case:
“But neither the Supreme Court of the United States nor Oliver Wendell Holmes personally had any intention of compelling Southern states to grant black citizens the right to vote, no matter what the Fifteenth Amendment said. In the last two pages of the opinion, Holmes denied Giles’s claim but what was more significant were the ridiculous lengths to which he was forced to go to justify his opinion. Holmes’s reasoning was such a distortion of constitution principles that legal scholar Richard Pildes called Giles v. Harris the ‘one key moment, one decisive turning point...in the bleak and unfamiliar saga...of the history of anti-democracy in the United States.’”
Then, in an epilogue, the author fast forwards to the modern Civil Rights Movement and the horrific events that took place at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. He explains how, following years of organizing, the nation’s reaction to those events led to enactment of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. He also explains that the law was eventually gutted in 2013 by the Court’s Shelby decision.
The author makes the case that the three branches of government have been controlled by white supremacists from the ratification of the Constitution right up to today. Of course, one could argue, things are better now than when “Pitchfork Ben” Tillman was around. But when you consider the recent voting roll purges; the elimination of voting locations in minority districts; and the former President’s trash talk about voting by mail, it’s just more of the same.
Will the protests instigated by the murder of George Floyd bring about real change? STOLEN JUSTICE is the right book at the right time. It’s an exceedingly valuable resource for understanding how, in such a terrible variety of ways, Black Americans have been repeatedly robbed of their right to vote. It provides great information on how we got here and provides a sense of how big a boulder needs to be rolled away if we are ever going to achieve a more just and perfect union.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
https://twitter.com/richiespicks
richiepartington@gmail.com
“President Donald Trump in recent days shared tweets of Black people being violent and asked why people weren’t protesting over it. These tweets, coming amid nationwide demonstrations over racism and police brutality, echoed the rhetoric of white supremacists and appear to be part of a broader strategy from Trump to exploit fear and prejudice as he fights to salvage his vulnerable reelection campaign. Trump leaned on racism and xenophobia to garner support during his 2016 campaign, and he’s employing a similar approach as the US gets closer to Election Day.”
-- Business Insider, “Trump is increasingly relying on white-supremacy ploys to fire up his base as he panics over his reelection chances” (6/23/20)
“He’s depending on our silence
While he orchestrates our fear
If our neighbors are so satisfied
Why they comin’ here?
I’m gonna vote
I’m gonna vote that mutha out”
-- Little Steven (1984)
“As the 1880s progressed, white supremacists openly and almost gleefully committed voter fraud across the South. In 1900, on the floor of the United States Senate, South Carolina senator “Pitchfork Ben” Tillman would brag about the methods used to deny black citizens the vote in those days. ‘We took the government away. We stuffed ballot boxes. We shot them. We are not ashamed of it.’
Still, these same white supremacists felt as much need to justify this behavior as they had to justify slavery. Since even they knew it would not do to enslave equals--or to steal the government from them--they took the position that people of color were, as a race, simply not equal to whites.
But just how they did this evolved.”
STOLEN JUSTICE is the tale of that evolution. The sordid American history that Lawrence Goldstone recounts in this fascinating and horrifying read makes a mockery of the sentiment in the Declaration of Independence that “All men are created equal.”
STOLEN JUSTICE focuses on national events and Supreme Court cases that unjustly prevented Black Americans from voting, beginning back at the founding of the republic. The author concludes with the 1903 Black voting-related Court case Giles v. Harris, which was decided in the wake of the infamous 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case:
“But neither the Supreme Court of the United States nor Oliver Wendell Holmes personally had any intention of compelling Southern states to grant black citizens the right to vote, no matter what the Fifteenth Amendment said. In the last two pages of the opinion, Holmes denied Giles’s claim but what was more significant were the ridiculous lengths to which he was forced to go to justify his opinion. Holmes’s reasoning was such a distortion of constitution principles that legal scholar Richard Pildes called Giles v. Harris the ‘one key moment, one decisive turning point...in the bleak and unfamiliar saga...of the history of anti-democracy in the United States.’”
Then, in an epilogue, the author fast forwards to the modern Civil Rights Movement and the horrific events that took place at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. He explains how, following years of organizing, the nation’s reaction to those events led to enactment of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. He also explains that the law was eventually gutted in 2013 by the Court’s Shelby decision.
The author makes the case that the three branches of government have been controlled by white supremacists from the ratification of the Constitution right up to today. Of course, one could argue, things are better now than when “Pitchfork Ben” Tillman was around. But when you consider the recent voting roll purges; the elimination of voting locations in minority districts; and the former President’s trash talk about voting by mail, it’s just more of the same.
Will the protests instigated by the murder of George Floyd bring about real change? STOLEN JUSTICE is the right book at the right time. It’s an exceedingly valuable resource for understanding how, in such a terrible variety of ways, Black Americans have been repeatedly robbed of their right to vote. It provides great information on how we got here and provides a sense of how big a boulder needs to be rolled away if we are ever going to achieve a more just and perfect union.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
https://twitter.com/richiespicks
richiepartington@gmail.com
November 15, 2019
I've spent the last two years researching the American women's fight for the vote. The 15th Amendment mainly makes its appearance as an issue that divided the suffrage movement between those who supported African American men gaining the vote, regardless of whether women had to wait, and those who believed that if both women and African Americans couldn't be enfranchised at the same time, women deserved it first. I began to think that I needed to know more about the 15th Amendment, and along comes Lawrence Goldstone's book. Perfect timing!
Stolen Justice has been published by Scholastic Focus, a new nonfiction imprint of Scholastic meant meant for the young adult audience. I love that there's a nonfiction imprint! Children mostly read fiction starting from a young age, and so they develop no taste for narrative nonfiction. I'm an adult who reads almost exclusively nonfiction, and I'm finding that I enjoy middle grade and YA reads, especially when it's a topic I know little about.
Mr. Goldstone's book held many revelations for me. The battle for voting rights for African Americans didn't begin and end with the 15th Amendment. He examines, for example, how two unlikely court cases -- an ax murder and a bullying incident that lead to murder -- helped and hurt the cause. It's the first place where I've read about the origins of the Ku Klux Klan as a pranking occupation for bored college boys. As always, I'm astonished (and horrified) at how brutally white men acted toward African American men and women. It's chilling no matter how many times you read of violence in the streets, at the polls and in the home.
The book really came alive for me when the author focuses on the people and personalities involved, but it lags when you have to slog through legal arguments. Maybe not for a child who already knows they want to be a lawyer, though! All in all, I look forward to reading more books from this imprint, and I hope nonfiction finally has its day. I volunteer at our local library and every day I see fiction books going in and out, while many fine nonfiction reads remain on the shelves gathering dust.
Stolen Justice has been published by Scholastic Focus, a new nonfiction imprint of Scholastic meant meant for the young adult audience. I love that there's a nonfiction imprint! Children mostly read fiction starting from a young age, and so they develop no taste for narrative nonfiction. I'm an adult who reads almost exclusively nonfiction, and I'm finding that I enjoy middle grade and YA reads, especially when it's a topic I know little about.
Mr. Goldstone's book held many revelations for me. The battle for voting rights for African Americans didn't begin and end with the 15th Amendment. He examines, for example, how two unlikely court cases -- an ax murder and a bullying incident that lead to murder -- helped and hurt the cause. It's the first place where I've read about the origins of the Ku Klux Klan as a pranking occupation for bored college boys. As always, I'm astonished (and horrified) at how brutally white men acted toward African American men and women. It's chilling no matter how many times you read of violence in the streets, at the polls and in the home.
The book really came alive for me when the author focuses on the people and personalities involved, but it lags when you have to slog through legal arguments. Maybe not for a child who already knows they want to be a lawyer, though! All in all, I look forward to reading more books from this imprint, and I hope nonfiction finally has its day. I volunteer at our local library and every day I see fiction books going in and out, while many fine nonfiction reads remain on the shelves gathering dust.
July 18, 2020
This is essential anti-racism reading and should be essential for all Americans to better understand our own history, how we got to where we are, how things change and how they don't change. It's a short, easily accessible non-fiction, and I learned a lot. The focus in on cases brought before the Supreme Court, along with an important epilogue that discuses the new voting restrictions enacted in 2013.
February 3, 2021
Goldstone sets out to tell the history of African American voting, starting with the Constitutional Convention and going on well into the 20th century. The short chapters, coupled with Goldstone's narrative nature, make this very accessible readers young and old. The audiobook narration was well done. It does contain racial slurs from original primary sources, but the author gives fair warning.
Recommend to grades 8 and up.
Recommend to grades 8 and up.
January 24, 2021
A concise history of African American voting rights that is well done and easy to understand.
April 27, 2020
When I was in school, by my own admission, I wasn't a very good student. I'm quite sure my teachers would agree I didn't work to my potential. When I was in high school, about 60% of my History Class was required to go in on a Saturday because we had ALL failed a recent test. History was a series of memorized dates, very little depth. To this day, I believe it was the ineffectiveness of the teacher. How could it have been anything else with that large a percentage of failures.
Reading this book, I learned so much about our government and how laws can be manipulated to favor the white majority. The book focuses on the injustices done to African Americans, but I learned there was prejudice against Catholics, the religion in which I was raised, Jews, Chinese and Japanese. It makes me ashamed by association.
I am enjoying my history lessons in the books I have been reading recently. There's so much I missed by only memorizing dates associated with major events throughout history.
Reading this book, I learned so much about our government and how laws can be manipulated to favor the white majority. The book focuses on the injustices done to African Americans, but I learned there was prejudice against Catholics, the religion in which I was raised, Jews, Chinese and Japanese. It makes me ashamed by association.
I am enjoying my history lessons in the books I have been reading recently. There's so much I missed by only memorizing dates associated with major events throughout history.
November 30, 2020
The path to the 1965 Voting Rights Act was certainly winding and rocky. This well-written account of how African Americans gained the right to vote (briefly) after the Civil War and during Reconstruction and how they lost that right for several years is fascinating, compelling, and important reading. What might be most alarming about this story of stolen and postponed justice is the simple fact that so many legislators and Supreme Court justices allowed it to happen. In fact, many rulings stripped that most important right to vote from American citizens. The book contains several archival photographs and discussion of how the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, intended to protect the right to vote, were interpreted by the nation's highest court. Reading this account may prompt readers to shake their heads in dismay at the justices' lack of legal expertise and understanding while also prompting them to wonder what lies ahead in the future. While arguably a certain amount of requirements for voting could be necessary, it is also clear that any restrictions on that right might disenfranchise certain individuals and that that right is already under attack again as the result of Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder in 2013. For those searching for relevance from this historical account, reading the book's Epilogue is chilling and deeply concerning.
September 30, 2021
I received an ARC of this title from School Library Journal in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Goldstone's thorough work captures the inconsistency of the U.S. Supreme Court's rulings involving the voting rights of African Americans, particularly in the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction eras. For the most part, U.S. Supreme Court appointees during the post-Reconstruction period mirrored the general shift of attitude by white America toward reconciliation with the South, even if it meant ignoring or repealing the rights granted to African Americans with the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Goldstone builds a convincing case that the Supreme Court played a pivotal role in the reversal of African American voting rights after Reconstruction. Furthermore, he offers evidence that efforts to restrict voting rights apply to the present-day Supreme Court, citing the 2013 decision to remove the requirement mandating special permission to change election laws at the state and local levels in designated areas within the country. Immediately after the 2013 decision, many states began to institute voting restrictions, including the requirement of photo identification. VERDICT Goldstone has provided new and compelling insight into the societal impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions related to voting rights. A must-buy for all high school collections.
Goldstone's thorough work captures the inconsistency of the U.S. Supreme Court's rulings involving the voting rights of African Americans, particularly in the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction eras. For the most part, U.S. Supreme Court appointees during the post-Reconstruction period mirrored the general shift of attitude by white America toward reconciliation with the South, even if it meant ignoring or repealing the rights granted to African Americans with the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Goldstone builds a convincing case that the Supreme Court played a pivotal role in the reversal of African American voting rights after Reconstruction. Furthermore, he offers evidence that efforts to restrict voting rights apply to the present-day Supreme Court, citing the 2013 decision to remove the requirement mandating special permission to change election laws at the state and local levels in designated areas within the country. Immediately after the 2013 decision, many states began to institute voting restrictions, including the requirement of photo identification. VERDICT Goldstone has provided new and compelling insight into the societal impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions related to voting rights. A must-buy for all high school collections.
December 12, 2019
I won an Uncorrected Proof of Stolen Justice: The struggle for African American Voting Rights by Lawrence Goldstone from Goodreads.
One of the best and most important works written about U.S. history, Stolen Justice: The Struggle for African American Voting Rights by Lawrence Goldstone contains eye-opening revelations: eye-opening because these truths are rarely taught in schools. Written for young readers, this book makes accessible a difficult subject for all readers. The book contains photographs, political cartoons, a dictionary, and source notes; all aid the reader to fully grasp the attitudes and dangers of the times, and the continuing jeopardy faced by not only people of color, but also all minorities.
Every American should read this book to gain a fuller understanding of our nation, and to begin desperately needed conversations and actions.
One of the best and most important works written about U.S. history, Stolen Justice: The Struggle for African American Voting Rights by Lawrence Goldstone contains eye-opening revelations: eye-opening because these truths are rarely taught in schools. Written for young readers, this book makes accessible a difficult subject for all readers. The book contains photographs, political cartoons, a dictionary, and source notes; all aid the reader to fully grasp the attitudes and dangers of the times, and the continuing jeopardy faced by not only people of color, but also all minorities.
Every American should read this book to gain a fuller understanding of our nation, and to begin desperately needed conversations and actions.
June 4, 2020
This book opened my eyes opened to the injustices African Americans have faced in the US when it comes to the right to vote. I felt like this was an appropriate nonfiction book to read after the last few days bc while I can post and share about #blacklivesmatter it’s also important to educate myself and others about the atrocities that continue to plague the Black community. If you’re confused about the #BLM movement (or any movement that has or will happen) please make sure to seek out information. Books are a great place to start. I’m always learning and growing. I will never understand this issue completely because I am a white woman; however, I stand with POC and will continue to listen and learn. *Note this book was written by a white man. Make sure you’re also ready POC books by POC authors.
May 2, 2023
This book was as informative as it was dry. While I don’t see any kid walking through the teen section of the library and picking this up, it does have its place: research and in a place of honor on the shelves of every con law and government class in this country. While I wish it had gone a little less deep on certain Supreme Court cases in exchange for more page real estate dedicated to the entire course of US electoral history, it was at least well researched. It is disappointing though that it ends pretty much at 1905 and then crams the rest of history into an epilogue. That being said, it’s a great resource for kids learning about laws or history teachers who need reference material for how crap we’ve treated black people since this country began. It would be a perfect companion to a book about women’s suffrage. Teach it to a class of all white males. See what happens.
April 3, 2020
Being African American and a history buff, I thought I knew this story, but Stolen Justice taught me plenty! I knew about the transition from slavery to the Civil War and the Jim Crow era, but Goldstone makes the case that there has been a coordinated effort by those in power to extend the bonds of slavery using the levers of social power — cultural norms, education, politics, employment and the justice system. The aspect that intrigued me most is that many of the perpetrators of this oppression against our Black citizens did not hide their goals and objectives. They often acted in official capacities and used the very legal apparatus designed to protect our rights and liberties. This is a great read — an eye opener and (for me at least) a shocker!
January 18, 2021
3.5...it was full of interesting information, but I had a hard time not comparing it to Stamped. That’s probably not fair, but I couldn’t help it. This was based on a lot of specific historical and legal events, and the primary sources lent to the authority of the information, but it came across a bit dry. The legalese was sometimes hard to follow and left me a little disengaged. The stories also confused me at times, just because I had trouble keeping up with all of the people. Overall, it was informative and important, showing the cyclical way that white supremacy has continued to influence politics through the systematic disenfranchisement of black Americans. It just wasn’t the most engaging read.
July 14, 2020
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. This nonfiction work provides information on voting rights and the suppression of the Black vote, dating back to the end of the Civil War. It recounts in detail how the court system was set up in such a way that allowed states to suppress voters, with a little bit of information on how this still happens today. For the audience (YA), I felt that this was heavy on the court cases and light on the impact of them now. There was a lot of emphasis on the pre-1900s, and then a huge jump. I don’t see many middle school students checking this out for fun reading, but it may be useful as a tie to the curriculum.
October 26, 2020
Goldstone picked out enough personal stories from each chapter's time period to make the book interesting and each chapter narrative driven. The focus is the 13 - 15th amendemnts and the 19th century history of court cases and rulings by states and the nation to intentionally keep African Americans from voting. The timeline is 1787 to 1903, with an epilogue comparing what's happened to what's currently happening with voter supression and disenfranchisement. Includes an excellent glossary and primary source pictures. Not sure classes would be compelled by the whole book but pull out chapters/pieces would be really great additions to APUSH & AmHist I
May 3, 2024
Stolen Justice is about the constant struggle for African American voting rights in the United States. The book explains major court cases and some of the individual people involved and affected by the cases. It covers the fight for the right to vote from the late 1700s up to the present with the current laws for voting. I enjoyed reading this book, as it was written with interesting stories mixed in with some of the more boring facts about court cases. Many times the author explains who the people in the court case were before explaining the trial and its effects, which makes it more interesting. The author connects each part of the story well and wraps up the book well at the end.
January 25, 2021
Very grim reading about the history of the American Supreme Court and their relentless efforts to deprive non-whites, especially Blacks, of their voting rights, tying themselves and the law into knots to justify any and all restrictions on voting, living, working, or surviving. Although the prose isn't anything special, it clearly and methodically points out the ways that the justices prevaricate and contorted their arguments to support their racists inclinations.
Not that they show any signs of stopping.
Not that they show any signs of stopping.
August 6, 2020
Unfortunately I found it hard to properly engage with this book via audiobook (which is how I was reading it through my local library). It’s very fact and source heavy which made it hard for me to constantly listening and engage with it. Also because it’s about the American voting system, a lot of the specifics of what was talked about went completely over my head. However, what I did read of it was very informative and a great way to learn more about the racist past of the U.S. voting system.
September 15, 2020
The format of using court cases to move us through the history of voting rights abuses perpetrated against Black voters helped to do two things for me. First, the device contextualizes voter suppression in history. Second, it personalizes the experiences of individuals. I found myself at moments curious, empathetic, outraged, disappointed, shocked, unsurprised, celebratory — all while straight up learning fact-based history that was largely new to me. I engaged deeply with this approach.
May 3, 2022
I read this for a Teachers as Readers book club. As a teacher in middle school, I think the text will be far above my students' comprehension level. While the legal cases and history are fascinating, much of the text includes quotes from legal opinions and other court documents. As an adult, I found some of this difficult to understand. However, the topic of the book is relevant to today's climate and offers many opportunities for discussion.
December 18, 2020
This chronicles the enormous efforts throughout American history to suppress the Black vote. It's probably best suited for teens, though it will also work for middle school kids. Those who enjoyed Stamped by Jason Reynolds and want to read deeper on this particular aspect of systemic racism will come away enlightened.
January 27, 2021
Excellent overview of major legal cases to have defined the battle for racial equality at the ballot box in the US. Most notably how the courts sought to strangle the hard fought victory of the Civil War with repressive judgements based on the flimsiest of pretexts in order to promote Jim Crow divisiveness. Sad and all too relevant today.
February 26, 2024
Thoroughly researched, reader friendly prose, illustrated and informative, this book takes us on the long struggle for African American equality and voting rights in 217 pages. Written for a younger audience but important for anyone interested in building awareness of the depth of White Supremacist ideologies hold on the U.S. government, court system and identity.
May 24, 2020
This is a tight, terse, history of black voting rights in the United States. It tells it like it is without any literary embellishment. I learned a lot and appreciate Goldstone's perspective. I'll be thinking about this view of voting rights often.
July 16, 2020
Learned quite a bit about the struggle for Black voting rights and its history. I recommend this book for those wanting to learn more about how and why Black live matter and the many obstacles that have been placed in their lives.
November 2, 2020
I read this book with my high schooler for history on voting rights. I think the book provides a glimpse into how voting rights for black Americans have been and continue to be suppressed. Was an eye-opener for myself and my high schooler.
November 30, 2021
I listened to this one on audio and I found it hard to concentrate on. I do think a lot of good information went in here, especially as voter suppression bills continue to pass, but I think it's one that might work better in print.
June 23, 2020
Recommended reading if you want to truly understand what is occurring in society today.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews