Jonathan Becker Publishes Article in the EDU Ledger on Voting Rights

Jonathan Becker, vice president for academic affairs and director of the Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College, together with Lisa Bratton, a Tuskegee University professor, published an article in the EDU Ledger. The article discusses how Gomillion vs. Lightfoot, a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court that found an electoral district with boundaries created to disenfranchise African Americans violated the Fifteenth Amendment, is still relevant in the fight for voting rights today. The case pitted a Tuskegee Institute sociology professor, Charles Gomillion, and members of the Tuskegee Civic Association (TCA), of which he was president, against the white politicians who controlled the city government of Tuskegee in Macon County, Alabama, along with the entire state government. The case culminated with the Supreme Court ruling unanimously in favor of Gomillion. “The efforts of Gomillion and the TCA, including numerous Tuskegee Institute faculty and staff, and the many students who stepped forward to support the economic boycott, illustrate that universities can be laboratories of resistance,” the article states.

Post Date: 03-06-2026