The 2022 midterm election is today! A lot is at stake for the Black community should the Republican party gain control of either the House or Senate.
There is a long, well-documented history of African-Americans fighting for suffrage.
Although free Black men did participate in politics by voting and holding office in the late 1870s, during the Reconstruction era following the abolishment of slavery —the newly freed men were still disenfranchised from exercising those rights fully. The grandfather clause, for example, said that a man could only vote if his ancestor had been a voter before 1867—how could a Black person’s ancestor vote if slavery didn’t end until 1865? Constitutionally, Black people were just considered three-fifths of a human. Other tactics, like impossible literacy tests, were also utilized to prevent Black men from voting.
As the journey for the 1965 Voting Rights Act to pass was deadly, it is evident why voter apathy is still prevalent within the Black community.
While voting is not the only solution–as our ancestors had to do a lot of rebellion before that–here is a healthy reminder of why we must vote. These photos of Black Americans fighting for and exercising their right to vote should inspire you.
01
Victor Williams registers to vote in last few days of voter registration, Washington D.C., 1964.
02
Election Day, Washington D.C., 1968
Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images
03
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr votes as his wife, Coretta Scott King, waits her turn. Atlanta, Georgia 1964
04
Negro voters, for the first time since Reconstruction era, at South Carolina polls, 1948
05
Young African American woman casting her vote in a ballot box in D.C., 1964
Universal History Archive/Getty Images
06
African-American delegate on the floor at the 1972 Democratic National Convention
Pictorial Parade/Getty Images
07
A cotton grower from Arkansas puts his ballot in the cotton marketing quota referendum, 1938
CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images
08
An elderly African-American man fills out his ballot with a voting machine in 1942 Election
CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images
09
African-American citizens stand in line and vote during an election, Baltimore, Maryland, 1946.
Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images
10
Negroes Protesting Voter Apathy, 1963
Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images
11
African-American men and women, registering to vote before the deadline, 1958
Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images
12
African-American officials counting vote ballots during an election, 1949
Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images
13
African-American youth urging citizens to vote, 1964.
Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images
14
Ralph Abernathy and Wyatt Tee Walker Inspect Church
15
African-Americans Voting in Mississippi Democratic Primary
16
Freedom marches march past workers on a plantation in Mississippi to increase Negro voter registration, 1966
17
Polling Station Alabama, 1965
18
African-Americans voting in Mississippi Democratic Primary, 1946
19
Negro Voters In Harlem, 1926
20
thousands of Negroes turned out to vote in Georgia Democratic Primary, 1946
