This Day in History

Feb. 3, 1870: 15th Amendment Ratified

Time Periods: 1865
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Democracy & Citizenship, Laws & Citizen Rights
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The Fifteenth Amendment and its results poster | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's HistoryRatified on Feb. 3, 1870, the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution officially granted African American men the right to vote by declaring that 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.”

However, the promise of the 15th Amendment was blocked for almost a century through the use of poll taxes, literacy tests and other means — and more recently by voter ID laws.

Learn about all the anniversaries leading up to February 3 and those beyond from this detailed tweet thread by historian Stephen West.

Learn more in the Zinn Education Project national report, “Erasing the Black Freedom Struggle: How State Standards Fail to Teach the Truth About Reconstruction,” and find teaching resources on Reconstruction below.

Related Resources
Teaching Activities (Free)

Reconstructing the South: A Role Play

Lesson. By Bill Bigelow. 17 pages.
This role play engages students in thinking about what freedpeople needed in order to achieve — and sustain — real freedom following the Civil War. It’s followed by a chapter from the book Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution.

Frances Harper, William Sylvis, Isaac Myers, and John Roy Lynch pictured. They were leaders of the Reconstruction Era in US history
Teaching Activities (Free)

When the Impossible Suddenly Became Possible: A Reconstruction Mixer

Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez and Nqobile Mthethwa. 25 pages.
A mixer role play explores the connections between different social movements during Reconstruction.

Teaching Activities (Free)

Who Gets to Vote? Teaching About the Struggle for Voting Rights in the United States

Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca.
Unit with three lessons on voting rights, including the history of the struggle against voter suppression in the United States.

Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution: An Inquiry Into the Civil War and Reconstruction (Book) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History
Teaching Guides

Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution: An Inquiry Into the Civil War and Reconstruction

Teaching Guide. By American Social History Project with foreword by Eric Foner. 1996.
Primary documents, essays, and questions to teach the untold story of Reconstruction.

The First Vote
Articles

Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution: Teaching a People’s History of Reconstruction

Article. Background reading for teachers. By Bill Bigelow. 4 pages.
A review of Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution, a collection of primary documents for high school on the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Books: Non-Fiction

Black Reconstruction in America

Book — Non-fiction. By W. E. B. Du Bois. Edited by Eric Foner and Henry Louis Gates. 2021. 1097 pages.
Originally published in 1935, Du Bois’ Black Reconstruction was the first book to challenge the prevailing racist historical narrative of the era and in sharp, incisive prose, tell the story of the Civil War and Reconstruction from the perspective of African Americans.

Black Power USA Book Cover | Zinn Education Project
Books: Non-Fiction

Black Power U.S.A.: The Human Side of Reconstruction, 1867-1877

Book — Non-fiction. By Lerone Bennett Jr. 1967. 426 pages.
A bottom-up, student friendly text about the people’s history of Reconstruction.

Black Power During Reconstruction | Zinn Education Project
If We Knew Our History

The Other ’68: Black Power During Reconstruction

From the urban rebellions to the salute at the Olympics, commemorations of 1968 — a pivotal year of Black Power — are popular every year. Yet there is another anniversary of Black Power that merits our attention — 1868 during Reconstruction.

Thomas Mundy Peterson wearing the medallion he was awarded by the citizens of Perth Amboy.
This Day in History

March 30, 1870: Fifteenth Amendment

The 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution was formally adopted.

This Day in History

Oct. 19, 1870: First African Americans Elected to the House of Representatives

For the first time, African Americans were elected to the House of Representatives in 1870.

Joseph Rainey | Zinn Education Project
This Day in History

Dec. 12, 1870: Joseph H. Rainey First African-American in U.S. House of Reps

Joseph H. Rainey, from South Carolina, was the first African-American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.