The Right To Vote: African Americans And The 15Th Amendment

The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1870, was a significant step towards racial equality in the country. This amendment explicitly prohibited the denial or restriction of voting rights based on race, colour, or previous servitude status. While it was a cause for celebration among African Americans and abolitionists, it did not completely prevent voting discrimination against African Americans, who continued to face barriers to voting due to state constitutions, poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 further strengthened the rights granted by the Fifteenth Amendment by providing federal oversight, banning literacy tests, and removing remaining deterrents to voting.

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The Fifteenth Amendment

Despite the Fifteenth Amendment, African Americans still faced significant obstacles to voting due to discriminatory state laws and practices. Literacy tests, "grandfather clauses," intimidation, and fraud were used to deny African Americans their voting rights, particularly in former Confederate states. This led to a long struggle for equality, with civil rights activists and organisations working to secure and protect the voting rights guaranteed by the amendment.

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson urged Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act, which aimed to abolish all remaining deterrents to exercising the right to vote and provided federal enforcement to remove literacy tests, poll taxes, and other tools used to prevent African Americans from voting. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, along with subsequent extensions and amendments, played a crucial role in enforcing the Fifteenth Amendment and ensuring that African Americans could fully participate in American public and civic life.

While the Fifteenth Amendment was a significant milestone in the history of voting rights in the United States, it was clear that additional measures and legal actions were necessary to address ongoing discrimination and ensure equal voting rights for all citizens, regardless of race.

The struggle for equality

The original U.S. Constitution did not define voting rights for citizens, leaving the determination of voter eligibility to individual states. This resulted in a lack of uniformity across the nation, with certain states and cities allowing free African Americans and women to vote, while the majority restricted voting rights to white male property owners.

The passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870 marked a pivotal moment in the struggle for equality. This amendment explicitly prohibited the denial or abridgment of the right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." It was celebrated as a significant victory by African Americans and abolitionists, who believed that it secured the voting rights of African American men. However, this optimism was short-lived as states found ways to circumvent the amendment and continue denying African Americans their right to vote.

One of the most notorious methods employed by states was the "grandfather clause," which restricted voting rights to men whose male ancestors had the right to vote before a specific date, typically in the 1860s. This effectively excluded African Americans whose ancestors had been enslaved and disenfranchised. Literacy tests, poll taxes, intimidation, and the violent tactics of groups like the Ku Klux Klan further hindered African Americans from exercising their constitutional right to vote.

The civil rights movement of the twentieth century aimed to address these injustices and secure full voting rights for African Americans. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson, urged by activists and the campaign in Selma, Alabama, addressed Congress and advocated for a voting rights bill. This culminated in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which provided federal enforcement to abolish discriminatory practices and ensure equal voting rights for all citizens regardless of race or ethnicity.

Despite these advancements, the struggle for equality in voting rights remained ongoing. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has faced legal challenges and amendments, underscoring the need for continued vigilance and advocacy to protect and expand voting rights for African Americans and other minority groups.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965

The Act was passed in response to the long-standing disenfranchisement of Black voters in Southern states, where various voting restrictions had been imposed, including literacy tests, poll taxes, property-ownership requirements, and moral character tests. These discriminatory practices were often enforced through harassment, intimidation, economic reprisals, and physical violence, effectively denying African Americans their right to vote. Civil rights organizations such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) played a crucial role in pushing for federal action to protect the voting rights of racial minorities.

The impact of the Voting Rights Act was immediate and significant. By the end of 1965, a quarter of a million new Black voters had registered, with notable increases in voter turnout among African Americans across the South. The Act has been amended and strengthened over the years, with Congress expanding its protections on five occasions. Despite legal challenges and efforts to undermine its effectiveness, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 remains a pivotal piece of legislation in the ongoing struggle for voting rights and racial equality in the United States.

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The civil rights movement

African Americans who moved to the North during the Great Migration also faced barriers in employment and housing. Legal racial discrimination was upheld by the Supreme Court in its 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which established the doctrine of "separate but equal". The movement for civil rights, led by figures such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington, achieved few gains until after World War II. In 1948, President Harry S. Truman issued an executive order abolishing discrimination in the armed forces.

In 1954, the Supreme Court struck down state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools in Brown v. Board of Education. This was followed by the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, which saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, but were harassed and kept from entering the building by the state's National Guard.

In 1963, hundreds of thousands of people arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a few months and coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin. It was meant to demonstrate the urgent need for substantive change and included demands for an end to discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more.

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. In 1965, prompted by reports of continuing discriminatory voting practices in many Southern states, Johnson urged Congress to pass legislation to enforce the 15th Amendment, which had granted African American men the right to vote in 1870. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 provided federal enforcement to remove literacy tests and other tools used to prevent African Americans from voting. It also authorized federal supervision of voter registration and prevented states from changing voting requirements or district boundaries without federal review.

The legacy of Reconstruction

The 13th Amendment abolished slavery, the 14th Amendment guaranteed birthright citizenship and equal protection under the law, and the 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote. The 15th Amendment, passed by Congress on February 26, 1869, and ratified on February 3, 1870, stated that the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Despite the passage of the 15th Amendment, African Americans continued to face significant barriers to voting due to discriminatory state laws, poll taxes, literacy tests, intimidation, and the infamous ""grandfather clauses,"" which restricted voting rights to those whose male ancestors had voted before the 15th Amendment. In response to these ongoing barriers, activists advocating for African American voting rights formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The NAACP successfully persuaded the United States attorney general to challenge the "grandfather clause" in the Oklahoma constitution as a violation of the 15th Amendment.

The struggle for African American voting rights continued into the 1960s, with the civil rights movement of that era aiming to secure and protect full voting rights for all Black citizens. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson urged Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act, which abolished remaining deterrents to exercising the right to vote and authorized federal supervision of voter registration. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, along with the 24th Amendment's prohibition on poll taxes in federal elections, helped secure voting rights for adult citizens of all races and genders.

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