The Rise and Fall of the Voting Rights Act, Part I
5-4
Prologue Projects
4.5 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 20 January 2026
⏱️ 72 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The history of why we needed (and still need) the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
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5-4 is presented by Prologue Projects. This episode was produced by Andrew Parsons with help from Alli Rodgers and Zachary Clary. Leon Neyfakh provides editorial support. Our website was designed by Peter Murphy. Our artwork is by Teddy Blanks at Chips NY, and our theme song is by Spatial Relations. Transcriptions of each episode are available at fivefourpod.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I don't know how funny this episode will be. |
| 0:01.6 | No, I got jokes, don't worry. |
| 0:02.9 | All my best Jim Crow jokes I've been saving for this one. |
| 0:09.4 | Hey, everyone, this is Leon from Prologue Projects. |
| 0:13.4 | On this episode of 5 to 4, Peter, Riannon, and Michael are diving into the 100-year history |
| 0:18.8 | behind the Voting Rights Act of 1965. |
| 0:22.3 | It's a history littered with arguments that will sound somewhat familiar to anyone tracking |
| 0:26.1 | far-right talking points in 2026. |
| 0:28.6 | We should really be talking about this. |
| 0:30.6 | That there are a lot of people who are voting in this country who should not have that right. |
| 0:35.3 | They don't deserve it. |
| 0:36.9 | This is the first installment of a special two-part series anticipating what is likely to be a bad year for voting in America, |
| 0:43.3 | with the Supreme Court set to hear a case that could undermine one of the most important voting laws in the nation's history. |
| 0:49.3 | But the origins of that law and the decades of voter suppression that made it necessary should remind anyone feeling hopeless about the future that while progress on voting rights is not inevitable, neither is the retrenchment of an electoral system in which reactionaries decide who does and does not qualify for a voice. |
| 1:07.2 | This is five to four, a podcast about how much the Supreme Court sucks. |
| 1:19.4 | Welcome to 5 to 4, where we dissect and analyze the Supreme Court cases that have abolished our civil rights. |
| 1:26.5 | Like, we're going to abolish ICE. I'm Peter. |
| 1:29.4 | I'm here with Riannon. Hey, everybody. And Michael. We're going to win. I love that sentiment |
| 1:34.7 | for the beginning of 2026. The only positive metaphor I'll be doing for the new year, though, |
| 1:40.4 | you know, there's a running gag we have where every time we take a week off, something bad happens. And I actually don't think that it's a joke anymore. I think it's a thing |
| 1:49.7 | that happens when we're not recording, like the universe gets off balance a little bit. We had |
| 1:56.6 | Venezuela and then the ice shooting in our two weeks off. And it feels like these things can't be a |
... |
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