Lillian’s Right to Vote: A Celebration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Lillian is 100 years old. As an African-American woman living in Alabama, Lillian has recalled specific moments in her people’s history, and her family’s personal journey to freedom and justice as she makes her way up a long hill to cast her vote on Voting Day. Her recollections, reflected within a timeline, cover slavery, the 15th US Amendment (voting rights for men), the 19th US Amendment (voting rights for women), the March 1965 voting protest, the Selma to Montgomery March, and the Voting Rights Act 1965.

Inspired by the true story of Lillian Allen, award-winning author Jonah Winter commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In collaboration with Winter’s profound story, award-winning illustrator Shane W. Evans aptly captures—through the use of mixed media—the injustices placed upon a race of people that didn’t fit within the phrase “all men are created equal” until that piece of legislation was created. Winter closes with an author’s note emphasizing the fact that the struggle for voting rights is not over since the inception of voter ID laws, which have the effect of denying many Americans the right to vote. A definite must read for both school and home!