#23.2 Felon Disfranchisement and Citizenship in the US w/ Pippa Holloway (w/ update)
The Road to Now
Benjamin Sawyer
4.8 • 629 Ratings
🗓️ 12 November 2018
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On November 6, 2018, the people of Florida voted to amend their state's constitution to restore voting rights to an estimated one and a half million citizens who had lost this right due to a prior felony conviction. In recognition of this significant restoration of rights, we're re-airing our interview w/ Pippa Holloway on the history of felon disfranchisement and citizenship in America (originally aired Oct. 10, 2016) along with an additional interview w/ Pippa recorded Nov. 10, 2018 on the Florida amendment's implications and the path to ratification. Bob and Ben support the voters of Florida, and believe that understanding the history of felon disfranchisement laws is an important step in restoring voting rights to the more than 4 million citizens in other states who have fulfilled their debt to society yet continue to be denied their right to vote.
To better understand the origins of felon disfranchisement laws, we invited Dr. Pippa Holloway of Middle Tennessee State University's Department of History to join us for a discussion about her most recent book Living in Infamy: Felon Disfranchisement and the History of American Citizenship (Oxford University Press, 2013). Pippa explains the ways that these laws were developed as a strategy to prevent black Americans from voting in the post-Civil War-era. This strategy was later exported to other states such as Idaho and Hawaii for the purpose of excluding groups whose interests were in opposition to the ruling party. Pippa also discusses the current impediments to Americans' right to vote, and offers suggestions to ensure that Americans are not denied a voice in our political process.
The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. For more on this episode and all others, visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Osiris. |
| 0:03.2 | Hi, this is Jordan Muspafford, and the podcast you were listening to is part of the Osiris Network. |
| 0:08.4 | Osiris is creating a community that connects people like you with podcasts and live experiences about artists and topics you love. |
| 0:15.7 | Sign up for the newsletter at Osirispod.com to stay in the loop. |
| 0:21.5 | Today's episode of The Road to Now is a re-air of an episode that we originally launched on |
| 0:25.9 | October 10th, 2016, The History of Voting Rights with Dr. Pippa Holloway. |
| 0:30.6 | Given last week's referendum to restore voting rights for felons in Florida, we thought it was a |
| 0:35.1 | good time to air this episode. |
| 0:37.0 | To not only celebrate |
| 0:37.9 | the fact that so many people have gotten their voting rights back, but to remind everyone |
| 0:41.9 | of why this is a cause that we should care about and why the people of Florida did the right |
| 0:45.9 | thing. We also caught back up with Pippa and had her give us catch up on what happened in Florida, |
| 0:51.5 | why it was successful, and what strategies we can learn from looking |
| 0:55.2 | at how the people of Florida were able to help their fellow citizens get their rights back. |
| 1:00.7 | So please enjoy The Road to Now, Number 23, 2.0, The History of Voting Rights with Dr. |
| 1:07.2 | at Pippa Holloway. |
| 1:08.8 | We are here with Dolph Ramzor, who you may know is the sponsor of our podcast, the original |
| 1:14.4 | sponsor of our podcast, the godfather of North Carolina music. |
| 1:18.6 | Doff being a sponsor of our show literally helps us keep the lights on, keeps batteries in the |
| 1:25.2 | Zoom recorder, keeps the microphone cables working doff we appreciate all |
| 1:30.3 | your support over the past year well thank you i'm glad to be a part of it we've been running an ad |
| 1:35.4 | for the ruin brothers um which is one of your the new albums that came out that that that you guys |
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