It poses the proverbial question of whether the glass is half full or half empty. Your perception in that regard might well depend on your social and economic status, your race or where you live. Before 1965, men and women were killed, lynched or viciously beaten by Southern law-enforcement officers, as well as terrorists including the Ku Klux Klan, for attempting to register to vote. Blacks who resisted not only were denied admission to registration offices but also were intimidated and insulted by registrars. In Alabama and in many other states, blacks were given so-called literacy tests.
Cooper has personal experience of one such test.
They wouldn't let us sit in the courthouse. Those not murdered or beaten had their homes set afire by hooded night riders. Many lost their jobs or were no longer given credit for purchasing goods in rural stores. Cooper is one of those who made a significant sacrifice in the struggle that led to Congress passing the Voting Rights Act 35 years ago in March. She was 55 in 1965, a nurse who never could get a job in Selma, her home town.