In the weeks leading-up to 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act this month, civil rights activists in North Carolina were in the thick of a landmark trial challenging a state law that rolled back a key part of that Act. Plaintiffs in NAACP vs. McCrory argued that a Republican-controlled legislature knowingly passed the restrictive voting law (HB589) in 2013 to keep African Americans — who have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats since the 1930s — away from polling booths. The final decision, due later this year, could have nationwide impact for voters.
A few days after the trial concluded with closing arguments, VICE News caught up with the Reverend William Barber, who has been leading Moral Monday protests in North Carolina to rally support for the case that he has compared to "our own Selma." We also spoke to plaintiffs in the current and upcoming challenges to the state's restrictive voting rights law, including 94-year-old Rosanell Eaton, who, as a teen in the 1940s, successfully outsmarted polling officials by memorizing and reciting the preamble to the constitution at a local voting registration office.
Sandra Beatty
Sandra Beatty, 51, holds Jhournee, seven months, one of her seven grandchildren. Diabetes has rendered Sandra legally blind and a double amputee. She is a witness for the plaintiffs in the North Carolina Voting Rights trial of 2015.
Rosanell Eaton, 94, is a plaintiff in an upcoming legal challenge to the voter ID provision in North Carolina's voting law.
Rev. Dr. William Barber II is a Protestant minister and the current North Carolina NAACP chapter head.
Rosanell EatonSandra Beatty
All photos by Sara Lewkowicz for VICE
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