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Chapter 1 • Group Study Curriculum

Voter
Disenfranchisement & Threats to Democracy

A flexible model for groups to explore selected themes from The 1619 Project documentary series and connect them to the continuing struggle over who gets to participate in American democracy.

Use all of the modules, select only the ones that fit your setting, change their order, and/or add your own activities. The program is intentionally modular so organizations can build the experience that works for their participants.

Choose how you want to use this chapter

Facilitate online, print a guide, or prepare role-play materials.

The page works as the complete on-screen curriculum. Use the downloads when you want a facilitator copy, something to hand participants, or printable role profiles for Module C. You can also open individual role profiles on a phone and print them using your device’s print options.

Download Leader GuideFacilitator PDF · session flow, prompts & notes PDF Download Participant GuidePrintable PDF · readings, prompts & take-home reference PDF Browse Role Profiles & HandoutsChoose, view and print the Module C role cards OPEN →

Build your session

Four modules. Use as many as fit.

The suggested full program follows the sequence below, but each module can stand on its own. Select a module to jump directly to it.

AECC Web Resources15 min B1619 Project Film Viewing35 min CDiscussion, Activities & Role Play45 min DCommunity Context Speaker15 min
A

15 minutes

Module A

Every Chapter Counts Website Resources

At the start of the program — or in advance — use the interactive voting-rights timeline and these three Every Chapter Counts articles to prepare for informed discussion.

Featured interactive

Voting rights do not move in a straight line.

Explore major turning points from 1789 through 2026 and see how access to the ballot has expanded, contracted, and remained contested over time.

Explore the interactive timeline1789 → 2026
01

The Voting Rights Act: A Hard-Won Victory

Open article

↗ 02

Modern Voter Suppression: New Barriers, Old Tactics

Open article

↗ 03

Modern Voter Restrictions: What’s New, What’s Old, What’s Repackaged

Open article

↗

Discussion questions

Pause and connect the readings

  1. Which barriers to voting appear in more than one period of history?
  2. What changed after major voting-rights victories — and what did not?
  3. What question from the readings would you want the group to investigate further?
Continue your sessionNext: Module B · 1619 Project film viewingSelected clips · about 35 minutes
Go to Module B →
B

35 minutes

Module B

The 1619 Project Film Viewing

Show Episode 1, “Democracy,” using the selected time stamps below. The episode is available through Hulu.

Summary of theme

American citizens participate in democracy through their votes. This theme explores efforts to restrict the voting power of Black Americans from the late 19th century to the modern day. It also explores the ways Black Americans have continuously challenged these efforts and contended for the right to vote.

Selected viewing segments

Follow these two themed groups of excerpts to build an approximately 35-minute viewing sequence. The group headings introduce each set; the related segments and time stamps appear underneath.

Introduction and Project Thesis (00:00–02:15)

  • Voting and Disenfranchisement (08:08–14:25)
  • Interlude: Perfectors of Democracy (14:25–15:20)

The Civil Rights Era and the SNCC (31:12–40:11)

  • The Modern Restrictive Voting Laws (40:35–49:14)
  • Interlude: Black Freedom Struggle as Foundational (49:14–50:27)
  • Threats to Democracy in Modern Politics (50:27–56:24)
  • Hope for the Future of Democracy (56:24–58:15)
Watch The 1619 Project on Hulu ↗Explore the 1619 Project Educational Materials Collection ↗

Reading alternative: In addition to, or instead of, watching the documentary excerpts, your group may read Chapter 1, “Democracy,” by Nikole Hannah-Jones in The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story.

The selected time stamps were created by Pulitzer Center Education staff to support use of The 1619 Project as an instructional tool.

Discussion questions

Talk about what the film or reading makes visible

  1. What connection between past and present voting restrictions stood out most?
  2. Who has the power to shape access to the ballot, and where does that power show up?
  3. What part of the viewing or reading challenged, complicated, or expanded your understanding of democracy?
Continue your sessionNext: Module C · discussion, activities & role playHands-on learning · about 45 minutes
Go to Module C →
C

45 minutes

Module C

Group Discussions, Activities & Role Playing Mixer

The struggle for the ballot is emblematic of the struggle to make real the democratic promises of the country’s founding narrative. Voting rights have expanded over time, but they have also been restricted and taken away. The fight for the ballot has repeatedly required people to organize to regain or defend earlier gains.

Recent elections have brought renewed attention to barriers such as voter ID laws, voter-roll purges, and polling-place closures. Studying voting-rights history gives participants context for recognizing how laws, administration, power, and access can shape participation.

1

Who should vote?

Participants first share their understanding of what makes a “qualified” voter, then reconsider their thinking after listening to Fannie Lou Hamer describe her experience trying to register to vote.

After watching, discuss:
  • Were you familiar with Fannie Lou Hamer before this group study? If so, did it deepen your understanding of her role in the struggle for voting rights? If not, why might her story have been unfamiliar?
  • How might race and gender have shaped whose contributions are emphasized or overlooked in widely taught histories?
2

How can voting rights be restricted?

Participants predict how policymakers might restrict voting for particular groups in response to movements and laws that expand the franchise.

3

Who Gets to Vote? Role Playing Mixer

Participants take on roles based on people with firsthand experience having voting rights granted, denied, or made difficult to exercise. The roles stretch from the colonial era to the present and can close with a visual timeline showing the expansion and contraction of voting rights.

Part 3 materials

30 role profiles are ready to use

Each profile includes a short role-play summary and expanded context. The profile cards carry a larger QR code so participants can open their role on a phone during the activity. You may also use a phone to access and print individual profiles.

Explore all 30 profilesPrint QR role cards
View the full list of 30 roles
  1. Christia Adair
  2. Preston Allen
  3. Marsha Appling-Nunez
  4. Nathan Bacheldor
  5. Ruth Muskrat Bronson
  6. Aracely Calderon
  7. Floyd Carrier
  8. Xitlaali Castellanos
  9. Maggie Coleman
  10. William T. Combash
  11. Thomas Crawford
  12. Frederick Douglass
  13. Timothy Duffy
  14. Oscar J. Dunn
  15. Stuart Goldstein
  16. Penny Grover
  17. Fannie Lou Hamer
  18. Larry Harmon
  19. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
  20. Gladys Harris
  21. Joseph Jackson
  22. Elzie McGill
  23. Denise McQuade
  24. Lawrence Aaron Nixon
  25. Peter Williams Ray
  26. Modesto Rodriguez
  27. Lamar Smith
  28. Melanie Taylor
  29. Bhagat Singh Thind
  30. Lee Yok

Activity content is adapted from the free Zinn Education Project teaching activity, “Teaching About the Struggle for Voting Rights in the United States,” by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca.

Discussion questions

Compare the experiences in the activities

  1. How did the role profiles show voting rights expanding and contracting over time?
  2. Which restrictions appear neutral on paper but can affect groups differently in practice?
  3. After hearing several perspectives, how would you now answer the question: “Who should vote?”
  4. What reactions did you have to the biographies and portrayals of the people in the role-playing activity?
Continue your sessionNext: Module D · community context speakerLocal perspective · about 15 minutes
Go to Module D →
D

15 minutes

Module D

Community Context Speaker — Ras Smith

Use the Every Chapter Counts Ras Smith video to add a lived and civic perspective from Iowa. Then invite participants to compare what they hear with patterns, experiences, and questions in their own region or community.

Ras Smith

Speaker profile

Ras Smith

Ras Smith is a Waterloo, Iowa, native who served in the Iowa House of Representatives for District 62 from 2017 through 2023. His professional and community work has included youth services, education, community engagement, and advocacy, giving him experience at the intersection of public policy and everyday community life.

Read the Iowa Legislature biography ↗
Watch Ras Smith’s talk

Voting rights, disenfranchisement and community context · approximately 13 minutes

Watch on YouTube ↗

Discussion questions

Bring the conversation into context

  1. What does Ras Smith’s perspective add that the readings and documentary alone do not?
  2. Which issues in his experience feel specific to place, and which seem recognizable beyond Iowa?
  3. What is one question, resource, or next step your group should carry forward after this session?
Finish the chapterReflect, then share feedbackCarry the discussion forward and help improve the program.
Go to feedback →

Closing thought

Voting rights do not move in a straight line.

“The history of voting in the United States has not been characterized by a smooth and inexorable progress toward universal political participation. It has instead been much messier, littered with periods of both expansion and retraction of the franchise with respect to many groups of potential voters.”Grant M. Hayden, SMU Dedman School of Law

People need to know this “messier” history — a history that shows voting rights are not simply won once and permanently settled, but have repeatedly been expanded, restricted, defended, and contested.

Keep the connections going

Explore the history behind the discussion.

These related stories are part of the Every Chapter Counts article library, with additional context and sources.

The Voting Rights Act: A Hard-Won Victory Modern Voter Suppression: New Barriers, Old Tactics Modern Voter Restrictions

Module C • Activity 1

Fannie Lou Hamer

Close this window to return to the activity.

Module D • Community context

Ras Smith’s talk

If the video cannot be played here, watch it on YouTube ↗. Close this window to return to Module D.

Module A • Interactive resource

Voting Rights Timeline

Open full page ↗

Voter Disenfranchisement Curriculum

Participant Feedback

Your responses will be sent to the Every Chapter Counts Collective at collectiveecc@gmail.com.