voter suppression
September 26, 2018 -
After former Confederate states drafted progressive constitutions that allowed black men to hold office for the first time, there was violent resistance to black power at the local level. During the Jim Crow era, legislatures rewrote those constitutions to give themselves broad power to override local governments.
September 13, 2018 -
In 1868, Southern states held constitutional conventions in which recently freed black men helped eliminate vestiges of the Confederacy and draft progressive blueprints for state government. While some of the provisions survived Jim Crow, conservative politicians today are chipping away at Reconstruction's radical legacy.
August 29, 2018 -
This week's federal ruling that North Carolina's congressional maps are unconstitutionally designed for GOP advantage adds to the uncertainty over the looming election. But it also offers a chance for the state's voters to cast their ballots in a fair contest for the first time in years — as long as Trump's Supreme Court nominee doesn't get in the way.
April 27, 2018 -
Armed with a new study documenting the deadly poverty that plagues the U.S., coalitions in at least 40 states — including every state in the South — are preparing for 40 days of direct action to demand an end to public policies that hurt the most vulnerable.
February 22, 2018 -
As civil rights groups challenge racially discriminatory judicial elections under the Voting Rights Act, North Carolina legislators are moving forward with a judicial gerrymandering plan that could lead to less racial diversity on the bench.
January 26, 2018 -
A proposed constitutional amendment would give the state legislature control over choosing judges — a power it has not had since the Civil War.
January 17, 2018 -
Thomas Farr's nomination to serve as a federal judge in eastern North Carolina has met opposition because of his involvement in efforts to suppress the African-American vote. Less well-known are his efforts to quash workers' organizing rights.