Episode 2: The Redemption Project

In the spring of 2026, the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais gutted the Voting Rights Act, and majority-Black districts across the South started to disappear. To understand how we got here, we must go back to the moment Black Louisianans first won the vote. In episode two of Draw the Line, host Ellen McGirt travels to Donaldsonville, LA, where a formerly enslaved man became America’s first Black mayor in 1868. She talks with civil rights attorney Jared Evans, legal scholars Leah Litman and Atiba Ellis, the ACLU of Louisiana’s Alanah Odoms, and museum co-founder Darryl Hambrick about the backlash that followed: the violent “redemption” movement, race massacres, Plessy, Jim Crow, and finally Selma and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The story may sound familiar, but the future is still unwritten.

LDF: Protecting the Right to Vote. Voter toolkits, election monitoring reports and ways to report problems at the polls.

Get help voting: Election Protection, 866-OUR-VOTE. The free, nonpartisan hotline led by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; call 866-687-8683.

This series was made possible in part by the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, which builds civic power in communities across Louisiana. You’ll hear from many of their staff and coalition members in this series, but all editorial decisions are Design Observer’s own. Head to their website for more.