Race and voting were the subjects of a lecture at the University of Kentucky Tuesday.
Former Newsweek editor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham spoke to a full house at UK’s Singletary Center about the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He said the law’s passage 50 years ago was contingent on three factors: the assassination of President Kennedy, news coverage of the “Bloody Sunday” events in Selma, Alabama, and President Johnson’s ability to tone down the actions of both Dr. Martin Luther King and Governor George Wallace, creating a sense of order.
“I specifically enumerated those because I think that’s why that happened then. If you took any of the three out, I think it’s hard to argue that we would be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act," he said.
While Meacham considers the Voting Rights Act a key milestone in American democracy, he says the events behind it are becoming a sort of “fairy tale” in the classroom. With the increased focus on race relations in contemporary politics, he says knowing the historical circumstances is key.
“Commemoration matters, memory matters, stories matter, and the more we can tell the story of what we got wrong and how we tried to right it, the better off we’re going to be," he said.
Meacham’s lecture was part of an all-day symposium on voting rights held by UK’s Martin School of Public Policy and Administration. More information on the symposium can be found at the school's website.
