This article was authored by Caitlyn Arnwine (formerly Caitlyn Cobb) in 2017 and updated in 2018 and 2019. See more about the #VRABlackHistory Series underneath the source list.

All the sources are linked throughout the article in green.

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Today, February 11th, 2025, we honor the Reconstruction Congress of 1867, which passed several measures to promote Black enfranchisement.

"Following the end of the Civil War, the United States Congress forged a plan to reconstruct the war-torn country. Three dynamic measures were passed in 1867."

The District of Columbia Suffrage Bill

"The District of Columbia Suffrage Bill, 'a bill granting all adult male citizens of the District of Columbia the right to vote', passed the Senate on December 13, 1866, and then passed the House the next day." "The bill, vetoed by President Johnson on January 5, was overridden by a vote of 29 to 10 in the Senate". The Reconstruction Congress of 1867 also overrode “President Andrew Johnson’s veto", "by a vote of 112 to 38", causing the bill to become law. It also becomes the “first [federal] law in American history that granted African-American men the right to vote."

The Territorial Suffrage Act

Two days after this bill granting Black (male) citizens in DC the right to vote, Congress passed the Territorial Suffrage Act, which allowed African Americans in the Western territories to vote. The Territorial Suffrage Act section 9 said: “From and after the passage of this act there shall be no denial of the elective franchise in any of the Territories of the United States, now or hereafter to be organized, to any citizen thereof on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; and all acts or part of acts, either of Congress or of the Legislative Assemblies of said Territories, inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby declared null and void.”

What may have led to the passage of the Territorial Suffrage Act was a group of Colorado Black people who were angry with Colorado’s suffrage restriction. They petitioned the territorial governor and members of Congress for the right to vote. This agitation eventually helped Congress pass the Territorial Suffrage Act in 1867. Don’t let anyone say that petitioning doesn’t work. It has always been small groups of people who started big movements. Just 3 years after these 2 bills were law, the 15th Amendment would grant suffrage to all male voters, regardless of race or previous condition of servitude.

The Reconstruction Acts of 1867

"The fundamental points of the Reconstruction of 1867 included:

• The Reconstruction Act created five military districts in the seceded states (with the exception of Tennessee, which ratified the 14th Amendment and was thus re-admitted to the Union)

• The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 implemented regulations regarding voter registration; all freed individuals were allowed to vote along with white persons who took extended oaths.

• Each district in the Union was now headed by a military official empowered to remove and subsequently anoint state leaders/officials. All states were required to employ a military leader from the North (Marshall Law). 

• All states were required to ratify the 14th Amendment prior to readmission into the Union.

• State constitutional conventions were required to draft new governing documents that included laws on black male suffrage. The Reconstruction Act required all southern states to eliminate their black codes and ratify the 14th amendment. The act also disabled confederate leaders and any individual who did not pledge their allegiance to the United States from voting."

HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH!

We hope you enjoy our #VRABlackHistory Series 2025 with the theme:

"Facing Extremism: How Our Ancestors Successfully Fought For Our Rights and #WeWillToo"

From the Transformative Justice Coalition and the Voting Rights Alliance



Please note, if you'd like to opt out from only the upcoming daily Black History Month Voting Rights Alliance #VRABlackHistory series, please email carnwine@tjcoalition.org. Unsubscribing at the bottom of this email unsubscribes you to all Transformers, not just from this special February Series.

The Transformative Justice Coalition and the Voting Rights Alliance, in honor of Black History Month, are continuing the annual tradition of our daily special series devoted to sharing the legacies and stories of the sheroes, heroes, and events in the fight for Black suffrage. This series was created in 2017 and will introduce many new articles this year. In addition to these daily newsletters all February long, this series also incorporates daily social media posts; an interactive calendar; and, website blog posts to spread the word broadly.

This year, the Voting Rights Alliance’s #VRABlackHistory Series will take readers through the most difficult fights for our African-American voting rights- and how we won.

Feel free to publish on your social media outlets and teach these lessons, with credit given to the Transformative Justice Coalition. Please let us know if you do share the series so we can publicly recognize and thank you. Be sure to send any publications to carnwine@tjcoalition.org so we can repost!

Others can sign up for the daily articles at VotingRightsAlliance.org. 

The 2025 #VRABlackHistory Series #WeWillToo Edition will connect our history to modern times to show just how our ancestors beat the odds. Every day, this series will detail in chronological order the fights for Black suffrage, and will feature articles on the Fugitive Slave Laws and the parallels to the present day mass deportation raids conducted by ICE; the fight for same day voter registration; how our ancestors worked with hostile presidencies and courts to achieve rights; how Juneteenth has been used to mobilize voters; the amazing achievements of the Reconstruction Era; why birthright citizenship began and how the 14th Amendment has been interpreted throughout history; how DEI initiatives started in the 1860's; the 15th Amendment; how we achieved the first anti-lynching laws in Georgia and how lynching was used to suppress the vote; how we moved past the Jim Crow Era; how Black youth mobilized to lower the voting age to 18; how the Tuskegee Airmen went on to fight for voting rights after their service; how boycotts were used to fight for voting rights; the "Souls To The Polls" voting initiatives of the Black churches in the 1950's- 1990's; how Black people fought for voting rights for disabled people; how Black people fought for equal access to the ballot for the LGBTQIA community; how the Brunswick, Georgia community banded together after the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in 2020 to vote out their District Attorney; the history of voting rights for Black women and how Black women continue to vote and lead voter efforts at amazing rates; how we have historically used the Black press to fight for our right to vote; and, more.

Our ancestors faced much greater opposition than we do today, even as we face a new hostile federal Administration- and they persevered. The sentiment felt by some African-Americans post-election is to sit back, sit out, and a general feeling of frustration and hopelessness. This Series targets those feelings: we can win! This Edition of the Series is also a tribute to all of those fighting back, especially against efforts to ban DEI and our history. “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it” – so let us learn from our history, our beautiful, strong, resilient, Black History.