“The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have.”
—John Lewis (1940–2020)
How can we unlearn redacted history, so that we can learn better?
“Spiraling Round the Promise of the Right to Vote” is a chronology of the 250-year struggle to expand voting rights in America. It reminds us of the powerful forces that challenge the ideal of an inclusive democracy in the United States. Steps toward the ballot for all Americans are presented in white type. Coordinated campaigns of voter suppression, disenfranchisement, and violent backlash against enfranchisement are represented by black type. In 2024, some middle school teachers organized a lesson plan for students around it. View the flipbook online or download a pdf to use as a teaching tool.
A freedom education project in collaboration with John Brown Lives!
