Telegram - Serving Metropolitan Detroit Since 1944

Are you going to vote in this year's election? I hope so

. I put together this brief history that explains what transpired in order for many of you to have 'the right' to vote.

The 15th Amendment 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."

The 15th Amendment granting African-American men the right to vote was adopted into the U.S. Constitution in 1870. Despite the amendment, by the late 1870s discriminatory practices were used to prevent blac...