Almost 60 years after the legislation was put in place to prohibit racial discrimination in voting, women of color are looking ahead to the future with a woman of color on the ballot.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a landmark of the civil rights movement, designed to enforce the 14th and 15th amendments and secure the right to vote for minorities in the United States.
Today, many women of color who were alive during the civil rights movement look back on the time their rights were validated.
Gwendolyn Crittenden, a retired long-term care nurse from Georgiana, Alabama, was about 12 years old when the Voting Rights Act was passed. Crittendon’s father was in the military at the time.
“I remember my dad was really excited about it because, you know, of all the things that they had to go through to even, you know, be able to vote,” Crittenden said. “Although they were legally able to vote in the South, they had all those different poll taxes and special identifications and all that stuff that they had to have in order to be able to vote.”
Crittenden recalls her first time voting when she was still in high school.
“I just remember I was excited,” Crittenden said. “That was part of our government class.
“Our teacher took the people who were 18 years old to the courthouse to get registered to vote.”
When Obama became the first Black president in 2008, Crittendon and many other people of color were elated for the historical change.
“It was exciting that people came together, and they elected him,” Crittendon said. “I knew that, you know, that it couldn't have been on just racial basis.
“I knew that it had to be a collective effort to elect him as president.”
With Vice President Harris taking over President Biden’s position as the Democratic candidate in the 2024 election, Black women and other people of color are optimistic for the future and encourage everyone to exercise their right to vote.
“Voting is a right,” Crittenden said. “We have to vote in order for our voices to be heard.
“A lot of people don't think that their vote counts, but it does count, and it's important that we vote because we haven't always had that right. The 19th Amendment gave women in particular the right to vote, but not every woman could vote at that particular time.”
Crittenden urges first-time voters specifically to use their right.
“That's their right, and they owe it to themselves and to all other citizens that they exercise that right because it's not something that was afforded to everyone,” Crittenden said. “They are the generation of the future, and their voice can't be heard if they don't vote.”