Pulitizer Prize Winner to Headline Martin School Voting Rights Forum
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 6, 2015) — Fifty years ago today, on Aug. 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The landmark federal legislation, enacted at the height of the civil rights movement, prohibited racial discrimination in voting.
To commemorate the legislation, the University of Kentucky's renowned Martin School of Public Policy and Administration today announced that historian Jon Meacham will headline the school’s special voting rights conference on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
Meacham is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “American Lion” and “Franklin and Winston," and former editor of Newsweek magazine. His book, "Thomas Jefferson: the Art of Power," was named by the New York Times as one of the best books of the year for 2012.
Meacham will present the first annual Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Lecture, honoring the late U.S. Senator and Kentucky Governor. Ford, a longtime advocate for the Martin School, was the principal sponsor of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, sometimes called the Motor Voter Act.
Meacham’s address will highlight the evening program in the Recital Hall of the Singletary Center for the Arts and is expected to focus on current and future developments in voting rights and elections.
The conference, titled "The Foundation of a Democracy: Voting Rights, Past, Present and Future," will feature Dorothy Butler Gilliam as keynote speaker for the afternoon session. In 1961, Gilliam became the first female African-American reporter and later columnist at The Washington Post. The much-honored journalist covered numerous developments during the civil rights movement. Gilliam, who grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, will provide a historical perspective on voting rights.
Other confirmed participants for the conference include David Becker, director of Election Initiatives, The Pew Charitable Trusts; Secretary of State Pedro A. Cortés, of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; Ari Berman, author of the forthcoming book,"Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America," and contributing writer for The Nation magazine; representatives of the litigants in the pending North Carolina voting rights case North Carolina NAACP v. McCrory; U.S. District Judge Jennifer B. Coffman (retired); Kentucky Lieutenant Governor Crit Luallen; and Josh Douglas, the Robert G. Lawson and William H. Fortune Associate Professor at UK College of Law.
UK President Eli Capilouto will give welcoming remarks at the evening session.
"This promises to be a compelling and fascinating day on our campus," said Merl Hackbart, interim director of the Martin School and a longtime professor at UK. "The theme of voting rights in the U.S. is in the news almost every day. The discussion and examination of this subject is very timely, especially with 2016 being a presidential election year."
Additional details about the program will be announced as other participants and times are confirmed.
MEDIA CONTACT: Carl Nathe, 859-257-3200; carl.nathe@uky.edu.