BY RAMYA GOPAL

In print | Published November 16, 2006

Last Tuesday, McCabe Library held an opening reception for its new exhibit, “Renewing Democracy: The 2006 Reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act.” This summer’s extension of the act, originally legislated in 1955, inspired members of the college community to raise awareness of the issue; in turn, this became the springboard for an in-depth exploration of the history of voting rights. Resources for the exhibit were drawn from the Peace Collection and the Friends Historical Library.

Spearheaded by Professor of Political Science Richard Valelly, the project and the presentation were compiled by Molly Weston ’10 with contributions from librarians Erik Estep, Peggy Seiden and Pamela Harris.

The exhibit includes primary sources illustrating the history of Voting Rights. One panel contained a vanilla-colored placard that said, “Documents record unsuccessful defense of African American voting rights in Pennsylvania by African Americans, Abolitionists and Quakers 1937-1938.” Also presented were several court cases displaying the legal struggle that ensued over the right of African Americans to vote, including one primary source document entitled “Appeal of Forty Thousand Citizens Threatened with Disenfranchisement to the People of PA, 1937-1938.”

Similar panels included aged documents that illustrated important incidents that contributed to the history of the Voting Rights Act. One table was devoted to the “Summer of 1964 in Mississippi.” Another linked Swarthmore College to the history of the Voting Rights Act: one wall panel showcased a book called “Race, Class and Party” written in 1937 by Paul Lewinson, a past professor of political science at Swarthmore. Other notable items included a map of the states and the years they abolished the literacy test, record covers of famous speeches and a weapon used by police to hit protesters in Mississippi.

Charlie Decker ‘09 noted that the exhibit not only exemplified American history, but the college and its historical resources as well. “My first impression was that I was surprised that a student could put this together with the resources they are,” he said. "This is a really useful display of relevant information that’s hard to find and put together."

Weston became involved in this project in mid-September when Valelly asked students in his Southern Politics class to help collect information on the topic. Weston was enthused by the idea of the project. “This period in history really interests me,” she said. “I wanted to show how the conventional way of looking at voting rights has been perceived at big periods, like the 1800s and 1960s. But it was broader than that. I put together original documents from lots of different collections. It was really exciting.”

One display exhibited an article written in the spring issue of Michigan Journal of Race and Law, authored by Valelly, along with Peyton McCray and Christopher Seaman. Valelly explained the importance of the article in modern times. “Both parties were so close together on the issue of reauthorization. So the question was how,” he said. His main publication on the issue is the book “The Two Reconstructions: The Struggle for Black Enfranchisement,” which won several prizes in its field.

Valelly gave a short speech at the reception about the history of the Voting Rights Act in the larger context of Civil Rights and American History. “We are in the second reconstruction period of American Voting Rights. [The legislation] is keeping [reconstruction] alive. This has been authorized for the next 25 years. That makes this exhibit relevant for at least 25 more years,” he said.

Weston closed the reception by stressing the importance of the presentation. “If you look at the maps around the room, it was not just about the South,” she said. “It was about voting rights across the country. This exhibit shows not just how far we’ve come, but how much it matters.”

The exhibit began Monday, Nov. 13, and will run through Jan. 12, 2007.

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