I Voted...Early! Will You?

On Wednesday, October 27, 2010, by my actions, I paid tribute to those who bought my privilege with their lives, limbs, persecution and livelihood.  I VOTED...Early! 

In tribute to the many who made this possible, I want to highlight a few of the individuals and key legislation that helped to codify this right. 

U.S. Constitution - Amendment 15
(Proposed 2/26/1869; Ratified 2/3/1870)

 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_Am15.html
    

Fannie Lou Hamer, (1917-1977) Voting and Civil Rights Leader

A native of Mississippi she stood against scurrilous discrimination and racism to champion voting and civil rights in the state of Mississippi.  In 1962, Fannie Lou Hamer was evicted from her home after attempting to register to vote in her home state and in 1963, she was arrested on a false charge and brutally and savagely beaten by police in Winona, Mississippi.  On August 22, 1964, Ms. Hamer delivered a historical speech at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Also see,

1.  Video of Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, http://www.icue.com/portal/site/iCue/chapter/?cuecard=5752

2.  Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKXoXwYpzmU&feature=related

3. 1964 Speech at the Democratic National Convention, http://www.nowpublic.com/world/fannie-lou-hamers-speech-1964-dnc

4. Biography, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fannie_Lou_Hamer

James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner--Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) workers murdered in Mississippi

James Chaney, a 21-year-old black man from Meridian, Mississippi; Andrew Goodman, a 20-year-old white Jewish anthropology student from New York; and Michael Schwerner, a 24-year-old white Jewish CORE organizer and former social worker also from New York, were killed by the police and the Ku Klux Klan on June 21, 1964 in Neshoba County, Mississippi while working there on voter registration efforts. 

Voting Rights Act of 1965

•  Introduced in the Senate as S 1564 by Mike Mansfield (D–MT) and Everett Dirksen (R–IL) on March 18, 1965. 
• Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965.

 This law prohibited the use of discriminatory voting practices, such as poll taxes and literacy tests, that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans voters.  See also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act 

President Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr. and other Civil Rights Leaders at the signing of the Voting Rights Act on August 6,1965.