Confederate states

150 Years After Ratification of the 15th Amendment, Black Votes Are Still Contested: The Black fight for the franchise

“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. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” So reads the 15th Amendment, ratified on February 3, 1870, the third of what came to be known as the Reconstruction amendments.

Breaking the Gubernatorial Glass Ceiling

In the 240-year history of the United States, four African American men have presided as the chief executive of a state or commonwealth. Only two were elected in their own right – Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, in 2006, and Douglas Wilder of Virginia, in 1989. David Paterson of New York was elevated to the office upon the resignation of Eliot Spitzer in 2008