LiberationPrimary SourceFBA Grio Verified Source

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Name: Between the World and Me
Author: Ta-Nehisi Coates

United States Congress

1965

Liberation

3-Minute Summary

Prohibited discriminatory voting practices that had disenfranchised Black voters for nearly a century. Section 5 required jurisdictions with histories of discrimination to obtain federal preclearance before changing voting laws — a provision gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013.

Why It Matters

The Voting Rights Act restored what the 15th Amendment had promised in 1870. Its partial dismantling in Shelby County v. Holder (2013) demonstrates that civil rights gains are not permanent without continued vigilance.

Important Passages

'No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.'

Where to Read

Congress.gov (free)

Verified: National Archives, Congress.gov

Key People

Lyndon B. Johnson

John Lewis

Fannie Lou Hamer

Selma marchers

Key Policies & Events

Section 5 preclearanceLiteracy test banFederal examinersShelby County v. Holder (2013)

Related FBA Leaders

John Lewis Fannie Lou Hamer

Between the World and Me

Ta-Nehisi Coates

2015

Reparations

3-Minute Summary

Written as a letter to his teenage son, Coates meditates on the vulnerability of the Black body in America — the history of plunder, the fear that shapes Black life, and the inadequacy of the American Dream as a framework for FBA experience.

Why It Matters

Coates revived the reparations debate with his 2014 Atlantic essay 'The Case for Reparations' and deepened it here. His framing of American history as a history of plunder — of Black bodies, Black labor, Black wealth — is the most influential contemporary statement of the reparations argument.

Important Passages

'The destroyers will rarely be held accountable. Mostly they will receive pensions.'

'You are growing up in your grandmother's house, and you must be twice as good and you know it.'

Where to Read

Available at public libraries and online booksellers

Key People

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Prince Jones

Key Policies & Events

ReparationsRacial wealth gapPolice violenceMass incarceration

All 100 Readings Reparations & Future Collection