Religious Resolve: Stories from Our Past, for Our Future (Program 4)

Race, Religion and the Right to Vote: The Amendments Passed, The Struggle Continued

2020 marks two important anniversaries: the 150^th anniversary of the 15^th Amendment, which gave African American men the right to vote, and the 100^th anniversary of the 19^th Amendment, assuring women’s rights to the franchise. These important legal milestones did not fully protect the intended rights, however.

The fourth in the Freedom Forum’s series, Religious Resolve: Stories from Our Past, for Our Future, illuminates the continuing struggle for voting rights in the days soon following the amendments’ passages. We will hear and discuss the story of the original 33 Georgia legislators who were duly elected to office during Reconstruction and immediately expelled because of their color. We will also learn of the activism of Charlotte Hawkins Brown, Ph.D., a pioneer in education and race relations who, along with other Black women of North Carolina, faced a barrage of racist opposition as women’s first opportunity to vote neared in 1920.

Speakers include:

• The Rev. Billy Michael Honor, public scholar, faith leader and director of Faith Organizing for the New Georgia Project, and
• Lacey Wilson, historic interpreter and site manager of the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum, a state historic site of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

For more information about the series, contact [email protected].

This series is made possible by generous support from The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations.