Political Quotes

“This month, we mark the 150th Anniversary of the ratification of the 15th Amendment, granting African American men the right to vote. Later this year, we will also celebrate the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women, and therefore African American women, the right to vote. These important anniversaries give special meaning to Black History Month this year, reflected in the 2020 theme, ``African Americans and the Vote.'' This theme speaks to the long struggle on the part of Black men and women to secure their place in American democracy, through the Constitution and its guarantee of an unfettered and unabridged right to vote. The 15th Amendment was the third and final amendment adopted in the aftermath of the Civil War. Together, the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments abolished slavery, granted citizenship to African Americans and etched the right to vote into the Constitution. While these amendments protected and expanded the rights of African Americans, too often throughout our history these rights existed on paper only. For the first century following ratification of the 15th Amendment, racial violence, poll taxes, and other forms of voter discrimination and disenfranchisement prevented African Americans from making their voices heard at the ballot box. Progress was slow. For every one step forward, we were often pushed two steps back.…”