The Fifteenth Amendment

Thomas Kelly
after James C. Beard
The 15th Amendment.
Celebrated May 19th 1870.
New York: 1870
Lithograph with watercolor
Prints & Photographs Division
Copyright deposit, 1870 (89.1)

The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified and enacted in early spring, 1870, gave male citizens the right to vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. In its central vignette, this historical lithograph records a grand parade held in Baltimore, Maryland, on May 19, 1870. Surrounding the central scene are political portraits and those of notable abolitionists as well as scenes of African Americans freely participating in the cultural, economic, religious, political, and military life of the nation.