In this column published in The St. Louis American, Bayard Rustin highlights the fight to renew the 1965 Voting Rights Act, emphasizing its impact on Black voter registration and political representation in the South. He warns that procedural battles in Congress could undermine these protections and calls for the law’s renewal before its scheduled expiration.
A Civil Rights Strategy for the Seventies
In this working paper prepared for the Conference of Black Trade Unionists, A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, and Norman Hill argue that the civil rights gains of the 1960s remain incomplete amid persistent racial and economic inequality. They critique the Nixon administration’s policies and the Philadelphia Plan, advocate for expanded employment and apprenticeship opportunities, and call on Black trade unionists to mobilize voters around housing, education, employment, and health care.
