Every Voice Counts: The Success (and Failure) of the 15th Amendment and African American Voting Rights

Elizabeth Herbin-Triant, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of History, UMass Lowell

This webinar took place on Tuesday, October 20, 2020. 

A recording of the Every Voice Counts: The Success (and Failure) of the 15th Amendment and African American Voting Rights webinar is available.

The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says that (male) citizens “shall not be denied the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” However, throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, discriminatory practices (poll taxes, literacy tests, etc.) were used to prevent African Americans from voting, particularly in the South. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 made strides in removing barriers to polls, although enforcement varied. So, where does the United States stand today in the wake of these laws and acts? Asst. Prof. Herbin-Triant will discuss the state of African Americans’ access to voting past and present.

Remote Learning Modules: Document Collections

With these primary source collections, companion questions, and writing prompts, high school students take an in-depth look at a topic, analyze documents, draw conclusions, and find relevance. These modules fit right into Google Classroom, or any learning management system, so teachers can collect students’ work.

African American Voting Rights

This webinar addresses the following standards from the new MA Social Studies Curriculum Frameworks:

  • Topic 4.10. Analyze issues involving liberty in conflict with equality or authority, individual rights in conflict with the common good, or majority rule in conflict with minority rights.
  • Topic 5.2. Explain the historical context and significance of changes in the Constitution, including key amendments. Examples of amendments include the:
    • a. 14th Amendment (1868): citizenship rights, equal protection of laws
  • Topic 5.4. Explain the historical context and significance of laws enacted by Congress that have expanded the civil rights and equal protection for race, gender, disability (e.g., the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 1965 Voting Rights Act), and explain how the evolving understanding of human rights has affected the movement for civil rights for all.