This ballot box, constructed of glass and iron, represents the struggle black Americans endured in order to be granted suffrage, as well as the resilience and courage they displayed against the restrictions set by white supremacists.
During the Reconstruction Era in the United States, Congress required all of the former Confederate states to hold constitutional conventions, incorporating both black and white male delegates to formulate new state constitutions that attempted to eliminate discrimination against African Americans.
“All persons shall enjoy equal rights. . . without the distinction or discrimination on account of race or color. . .”, a quote from the revised Louisiana State Constitution, 1867
Even after the passage of the 14th Amendment, African Americans still lacked the essential right of citizens: the ability to vote. Many social activists, including Frederick Douglass, a renowned social reformer, argued that those who are willing to fight, even die, for their country, should be guaranteed the right to vote, stating: “Let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pockets, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship in the United States.” Another argument he made was that, “If the Negro knows enough to pay taxes, he knows enough to vote; taxation and representation should go together.” Finally, on February 3rd, 1870, the 15th Amendment was ratified. The amendment granted suffrage to all African American males (women were still out of the picture; we would not be granted the right to vote until fifty years had passed; black women could not freely exercise their right to vote until the 1960s, forty years later than white women), removing race as a barrier to voting. After years of being denied citizenship and respect, the black communities of the United States exercised their newfound rights with earnest intent. Large numbers of black men ran for office and joined local branches of the Republican party. During the Reconstruction era, about 2,000 African American men were elected to public office, including Hiram Revels, the first black senator. This was the first interracial government in the United States.
Many white supremacists were angered at the amount of respect and prestige black men were earning as politicians and active voters. As a result, African Americans began to encounter a lot of resistance, that curtailed their political power. Literacy tests, the “Grandfather Clause” (a law that denied any black male whose grandfather had been a slave Another example of white resistance to black political power was the law that stated that any black male whose grandfather had been a slave, had no legal right to vote. This was an incredibly devastating law, as it made it impossible for virtually anyone to vote. The Democratic party rationalized these unfair practices by claiming that African Americans had too low a level of literacy to be able to vote, and that black voters would be easily swayed by false promises. The Ku Klux Klan and other racist groups intimidated black men from voting by threatening their well-being as well as that of their families. Members burned houses, churches, and schools, and even resorted to murder to instill fear in black voters. Some Southern states required African Americans to pay voting taxes, in another strained attempt to completely destabilize the 15th Amendment. In 1867, 67% of black men were registered to vote; by 1892, a mere 4% remained. All of these incredibly humiliating and unfair practices were enacted in an attempt to disenfranchise African American men. However, white supremacists received a lot of pushback from African Americans, who were eager to exercise their newfound rights.
Despite the resistance from racists, African Americans continued to persevere and continued to exercise their rights as citizens. Additionally, many Republican states overthrew the unreasonable restrictions placed on voting in Southern states. One example of this was the Supreme Court ruling of the “Grandfather clause” (the law that made it impossible for a black man to vote if his grandfather had been a slave). In 1915, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously decided that the “Grandfather clause” was unconstitutional. This effectively eliminated an unjust restriction, which paved the way for the removal of the remaining limitations on African American rights.
“African Americans and the 15th Amendment.” Constitutional Rights Foundation. Accessed January 8, 2019. http://www.crf-usa.org/black-history-month/african-americans-and-the-15th-amendment.