Now as Then

Students in the CAST minor, in collaboration with the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts, and the Politics Department present:

Now as Then: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest

As we anticipated in the "Now as Then: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest" series in the fall of 2015, US Supreme Court's decision to seriously abridge the protections of the Voting Rights Act has indeed led to the disenfranchisement of voters from communities of color. Learn about what has been happening in Arizona and North Carolina:

Events Focusing Creative Attention on the Struggle for Voting Rights

We explored songs and stories surrounding the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1963, and considered actions we can take today in the face of the 2013 Supreme Court decision that annulled the key provision of the Voting Rights Act and "put a dagger into the heart" of the law.

Workshop with Jane Wilburn Sapp
A group of students talks around a piano

Video: "Time to Act" - A Workshop Composition with Jane Sapp

Watch a video of a song about racial discrimination and voting rights in the U.S. written and performed by a group of Brandeis students in the songwriting workshop with cultural worker, musician, organizer and educator Jane Sapp.

  • Adapting and composing songs and spoken word poetry advocating for voting rights today
Songs and Stories of the Struggle for Voting Rights

Understanding the struggle for voting rights in song and story presented by Jane Wilburn Sapp, with comments from Dan Kryder, Politics Department

  • Music, history, and analysis

An actor stands on stage with a gunScene from "Selma ’65," by Catherine Filloux.Photo credit: Steven Schreiber

Selma ’65

Performance by Marietta Hedges of Catherine Filloux's "Selma ’65," a one-woman play retelling the complex story of Viola Liuzzo, a white voting rights activist who was killed in Selma in 1965, and the FBI informant who was with the Klan the night she was assassinated. Followed by:

  • Panel of students discussing their responses to the play and the politics of race and gender as they intersect in Viola Liuzzo's story
  • Small group discussions over light snacks, moderated by Brandeis students

Catherine Filloux's one-woman play "Selma ’65" is in remembrance of the 50th anniversary of the Selma Voting March. The play received its world premiere from Sept. 25-Oct. 12, 2014, for a 16-performance run at La MaMa, where Filloux is a resident artist. Read more about "Selma ’65" and Catherine Filloux's recent Planet Activist Award.

Read reflection from Brontë Velez ’16 on the event series.

Recognizing that 2016 will be the first presidential election in fifty years when all or part of 16 states will not be required to seek federal approval for changes in voter regulations we are asking:

  • What can we learn from the songs and the stories of those who participated in struggle for voting rights in Selma in 1965?
  • What strategies are being used to suppress Americans, particularly African Americans, from voting in 2015 and 2016?
  • What can we at Brandeis do to reclaim and strengthen voting rights today?