March 8, 1869

Michigan ratified the Fifteenth Amendment.

The last of three Civil War amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the Fifteenth Amendment guarantees that U.S. citizens shall not be denied the right to vote based on race, color or previous condition of servitude. The amendment was introduced when it became clear that former slaves were being disenfranchised in the former states of the Confederacy.

Thank you Michigan Start Pages for this glimpse into our past.  See more here.