On This Day: The 15th Amendment Is Adopted

On this day in history, March 30th 1870, the 15th Amendment was formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution granting African-American men the right to vote. The amendment was ratified by the requisite of three-fourths of the states after being passed by Congress the year before.

It states, “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.” One day after it was adopted, Thomas Peterson-Mundy of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, became the first African American to vote under the authority of the 15th Amendment.