The Constitution and the Right to Vote

The Constitution and the Right to Vote

  • Overview
  • Cast
  • Crew

Status

Released

Release Date

Jan 1, 1959

Runtime

0h 29m

Genres

Documentary

Original Title

The Constitution and the Right to Vote

Production Companies

NET, Columbia University Center for Mass Communication

Director

Stephen L. Sharff

Description

Follows the efforts to gain the right to vote for Negroes through a succession of legal decision and social changes. Dramatizes the case of Smith vs. Allwright et al. Reviews the long conflict to extend voting rights to a large electorate beginning with the Constitutional Convention's compromise over dropping property requirements through and including the enactment of the 15th and 19th Amendments to the Constitution. Cites legal precedents established by the U.S. Supreme Court through their decisions concerning the control of state primaries in 1918 and 1935 and the later reversals in 1941 and 1944. Points to the issues involved in Federal encroachment upon state's rights.