10/31/2024
As we draw closer to the 2024 Presidential General Election, I would like to remind people of color, the disenfranchisement Blacks suffered when it came to the right to vote.
The Fifteenth Amendment (ratified in 1870) extended voting rights to men of all races. However, this amendment was not enough because African Americans were still denied the right to vote by state constitutions and laws, poll taxes, literacy tests, the “grandfather clause,” and outright intimidation. https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/vote
Consider this, in 1898, Alabama had about 180,000 registered black voters. In 1902, it had roughly 3,000 registered black voters. By 1902, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Virginia, and the Carolinas had adopted laws that blighted the black vote (Bolden, T., 2008, p. 86, Up close: W.E.B. Du Bois).
So, I ask this question…In 2024, what blight is keeping you from invoking your right to vote?
