Portside

February 3rd marked the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the 15th Amendment, which was adopted to give Black people access to the ballot after the defeat of the slavocracy. We can honor the amendment by fighting to keep its promise.

John Lewis  is a congressman from Georgia. He was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, was a leader of the Selma-to-Montgomery march for voting rights in 1965 and is the last surviving speaker from the historic March on Washington. This is his review of the new book, Give Us the Ballot, The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America By Ari Berman; Farrar Straus and Giroux. 372 pp. $28