Guest: Alexander Keyssar
Professor of History and Public Policy, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Author,
The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States (Basic Books, August 2000)
Since it's founding, the United States has been a democracy. But for most of American history, large segments of the adult population were not allowed to vote. It took many years for women, African-Americans, immigrants and industrial workers to gain the vote, and after gaining it some lost it again. Join guest host Neal Conan for a discussion of how Americans decided who has the right to vote and the road to universal suffrage.
Copyright 2000 NPR
