Standing in front of the photo of the “Greensboro Four” Cong. Brad Miller (NC-13), Guilford County Commissioner and ICRCM Chairman Melvin “Skip” Alston, and to the far right Cong. Mel Watt (NC-12) flank celebrated veteran of the civil rights movement Cong. John Lewis (GA-5), trusted confidant of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. The basic right of a citizen in a democracy is the right to vote. With the rise of Jim Crow, unequal conditions stripped Black voters of this essential right. A combination of unfair laws, poll taxes, literacy tests, and a climate of fear enforced these racist restrictions. The focal point for this exhibit will be a curtained polling booth with an array of ballot boxes from the era. Other artifacts include historic footage of the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and an ink pen that President Lyndon Baines Johnson used to sign the bill into law. On display will be relics of the continuing struggle to register and assure the access of Black voters to polling places throughout the South and a display of the names of every black elected federal official and state elected constitutional officers since the founding of America.