What's the longest war in American history? Fighting for the right to vote

[DonViejo]

BY ANGA L. SANDERS, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 05/01/18 03:00 PM EDT 0 THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL

Anga L. Sanders was a Democratic precinct chair in Dallas, Texas where she was deputized to register voters and recently assembled and moderated a panel of young Black female voting rights activists. She is a Public Voices Fellow through The OpEd Project.

"No, Gertrude, you can't go. I might not make it back, and somebody has to stay here and raise these girls."

With those words, my grandfather, farmer James DeWitt Rhoden, left his wife and two daughters in the late 1930s and set off for downtown Quitman, Texas to vote.

He knew that his mission could end his life. As he mounted the tall steps of the Wood County courthouse, a crowd of hostile white men closed in behind him.

"DeWitt! Where do you think you're going?" He never turned around.

Perhaps because they knew he wouldn’t go down alone, my grandfather was allowed to cast his vote and return home to his family. Decades later, my mother (his daughter) related this story to me.

History may record that the longest war in the history of the United States was neither the Vietnam War nor the war in Afghanistan, but the ongoing war against disenfranchisement, which is the denial of the right to vote.

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http://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/385693-whats-the-longest-war-in-american-history-fighting-for-the-right-to-vote