U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: Reports on Voting

Abstract

Created as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is entitled to substantial credit for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, among many other achievements in advancing civil rights. In its heyday, its commissioners were distinguished Americans, former governors, cabinet members and university presidents, and though it had no power other than the ability to issue subpoenas and publish reports, its prestige and investigative authority gave it a unique ability to document social conditions in a variety of areas over time.

This five volume anthology collects the hearing transcripts and reports of the Commission dealing with voting rights, probably the Commission's signature issue. It includes transcripts of hearings in Montgomery, Alabama in 1958 and 1959, in Louisiana in 1961, and in Jackson, Mississippi in 1965, and the reports they led to, as well as the 1968 report Political Participation, and the 1981 report, The Voting Rights Act: Unfulfilled Goals. The anthology ends with reports on Florida 2000. The downloadable document is the table of contents and introduction.

Keywords: voting, civil rights, race, discrimination, democracy, U.S. Commission on civilr ights, constitutional law, Voting rights act of 1965

JEL Classification: K19, K23