MARQUETTE — Shirley Brozzo, retired director of the NMU Multicultural Education and Resource Center and member of the Keweenaw Bay Tribe of Chippewa Indians, recently gave a presentation to the League of Women Voters of Marquette County, entitled “Native American Voting Rights, History, Challenges and Potential Solutions.”

Brozzo gave a historical perspective of the decades-long process involved in gaining the right to vote for Native Americans. She noted that her own father was four years old when the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act was passed that finally “made Native Americans citizens in our own country”.

She discussed the many obstacles, such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation that kept Native Americas from exercising their right to vote even after citizenship was granted.

“This topic is particularly timely in that many of the barriers for Native Americans to actually participate in voting still exist today and apply to many other underrepresented groups as well,” organizers said in a news release.

With permission from Brozzo, the Marquette County League is making the presentation available for the community to view by going to https://youtu.be/6edHu-jM6Kc or visiting the local Marquette County League website at www.lwvmqt.org.

The LWV of Marquette County’s interest and efforts in helping to encourage voting and improve access to voting is supported by the National League of Women Voters Public Policy Position on voting rights that asserts that “voting is a fundamental citizen right that must be guaranteed,” the release states.