The Fifteenth Amendment

"Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."


This Fifteenth Amendment made it illegal to deny an American Citizen the right to vote based on race, color, or having been a slave in the past. This Amendment was the next step for African Americans in a long journey to equality after the Emancipation Proclamation (third reconstruction amendment).  The sad part is that because they were worried that this Amendment wouldn't get ratified they took out the wording in the Amendment that also made it illegal to discriminate against someone who would like to hold office. Eventually that became a law without an amendment.

This is a picture of an African American voting for the first time. This probably was the greatest moment in some of their otherwise tough lives. I will never understand why people back then were trying to keep people from voting when now the issue is the complete opposite. We need more people to go out and vote not matter what race, gender, or social class.