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Exhibit traces Voting Rights Act's history

ATLANTA - From a bloody attack on an Alabama bridge to a bill-signing ceremony in the White House, a new exhibit at the Martin Luther King Jr. historic site traces the history of the federal Voting Rights Act on the eve of its 40th anniversary.

"Of Ballots Uncast: The African American Struggle for the Right to Vote" opens today.

The act, signed by President Lyndon Johnson on Aug. 6, 1965, officially guaranteed the right to vote to every American, regardless of race.

The act's basic tenets are permanent, but certain provisions of it must be renewed by Congress by 2007.

Organizers of the free exhibit, which will be on display at the center through March, say they hope to show both the difficult struggle to pass the law and the lasting effects it has had.

"What we're really hoping people come out with is not just that it was a struggle, but that overall, it was a successful struggle," said Dean Rowley, co-curator of the exhibit.

Visitors will enter the display via a replica of Alabama's Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, site of the "Bloody Sunday" attack in March 1965. Alabama state troopers stopped civil rights marchers on the bridge, turning them back using nightsticks and tear gas.

The exhibit includes President Lyndon Johnson's copy of his speech to Congress pushing the act, complete with his handwritten changes, and an ink pen Johnson used to sign the bill into law.

One part of the act set to expire is the provision that governments with a history of racial discrimination must get approval from the federal government before changing their voting laws or district lines. The provision affects most states in the South, and parts of other states including New York, California and Florida.

[Last modified August 4, 2005, 01:06:05]