From Voting Suppression to Voting Successes
Despite voting and civil rights wins, there have been concerted efforts to limit access to suffrage as well as political and social equality. The struggle for suffrage and civil rights have led to many successes! This gallery depicts attempts to limit voting rights, and successful campaigns to secure those rights.
SC Congressional Districts Gerrymandered in 1882
The Congressional Districts of South Carolina as “Gerrymandered” by the Democracy. 1882. Source: LOC, https://www.loc.gov/item/2015588077/
Save Early Voting
Protestor holding sign stating “Respect Our Vote! Save Early Voting! Good for Democracy” at the Moral March in Raleigh, NC. Feb 8, 2014. Source: Stephen Melkisethian/Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenmelkisethian/12393551973/in/photolist-jTbcdz-byBs7x-jTbdBg-jT37GY-jTjbJU-jT4ZxV-jTjeP1-jT1Kz8-jSZGkr-jThrJ6-2hC2ris-dMPSoM-k4bwKm-putgoi-dMVoPy-jT8Xnx-k49ET8-25Hqr11-puwnfR-dMPR3H-HPbfFv-KkcMuf-jT93QX-jT91tc-JPxAcK-25HqqUQ-2iYCLq3-at1fZu-276Hj22-asBt7S-fzvYC4-DveTb5-dicFki-Dvzz5e-cAxZzd-dMPQgF-jTaAzN-dMPHsc-jT8fBX-jT8tVt-jTawAW-HPbgSD-JPxyUp-jT8cWX-jTaCnA-jTaBs9-jTaz3j-jT9E9e-jT6ujj-dMPPWM
Poll tax receipt from Hardin County, TX
1955 poll tax receipt for Lee Carr in the amount of $1.50. 1955. Source: NMAAHC, https://collections.si.edu/search/record/ark:/65665/fd5513a172cff2841beb26df1eae534f359
Gerrymandering Rally
Rally in front of the Supreme Court on October 3, while oral arguments for Gill v. Whitford taking place inside. Oct 3, 2017. Source: Victoria Pickering/Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/vpickering/37450875662/
Unita Blackwell
Unita Blackwell, first Black woman mayor in Mississippi. 1980. Source: Wikimedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Unita_Blackwell.jpg
Shirley Chisholm
Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm announcing her candidacy for presidential nomination. Jan 25 1972. Source: Thomas J. O’Halloran, https://lccn.loc.gov/2003688123
Radical Members of the first legislator after the war, SC
Photomontage of members of the first South Carolina legislature following the Civil War, mounted on card with each member identified. 1876. Source: LOC, https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3a28827/
Lt. Governor Oscar J. Dunn
An albumen print carte-de-visite portrait of Louisiana’s Lt. Governor Oscar J. Dunn. 1868-1871. Source: NMAAHC, https://collections.si.edu/search/record/ark:/65665/fd59a8d81ca606a43238e89535cafd439f9
Sneakers supporting Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign
Nikes handpainted by Van Taylor Monroe III with images of Obama and words such as “yes we can” and “change” – 2 images. 2008. Source: NMAAHC, https://collections.si.edu/search/record/ark:/65665/fd57c3fae03918943fcabd8372b95c5b425
Barack Obama and John Lewis
Barack Obama and John Lewis hugging on the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. March 7, 2015. Source: White House/Wikimedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Barack_Obama_hugs_John_Lewis,_2015.jpg
Marion Barry and Betty Shabazz
Marion Barry, mayor of Washington DC, with his wife, Cora Masters Barry, and Betty Shabazz at the National Mall. Oct 16, 1995. Source: NMAAHC, http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd5c3bec5e1-65b5-4ff7-bb0a-71dcd0f2c68a
Voter receives ballot for first election in Ghana
A voter receives a ballot paper from a polling assistant at Kumbungu Polling Station in the Northern Territories. July 17, 1956. Source: National Archives UK/Wikimedia, https://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalarchives/5415901869/in/album-72157625975820108/
First Black Mayor in London
John R. Archer, Mayor of Battersea. 1914. Source: The Crisis/Schomburg Center, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/7ed14f50-d212-0130-3cfe-58d385a7bbd0
The Fifteenth Amendment
Lithograph symbolizes the hopes of African Americans following the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment; portraits of prominent abolitionists. c. 1870-1879. Source: James Carter Beard/Schomburg Center, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47db-c710-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Ella M. Jones
Portrait of Ella M. Jones, first Black mayor of Ferguson, MO. 2020. Source: City of Ferguson, https://www.fergusoncity.com/directory.aspx?eid=59
Councilmen of Hobson City, AL
Mayor (S. L. Davis) and councilmen of Hobson City, Alabama, the first self-governed all-Black municipality. 1902. Source: Schomburg Center, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47de-02f3-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Bumper sticker endorsing Carl Stokes for mayor of Cleveland
The sticker reads [STOKES] across the top half in bold letters, with [For A Better Cleveland] printed in smaller, narrower letters on the bottom half. c 1967. Source: NMAAHC, https://collections.si.edu/search/record/ark:/65665/fd503e49982394d44819c493bbabfc5b865
Black Americans in Congress
Founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Standing L-R: Parren Mitchell, Charles Rangel, Bill Clay, Ron Dellums, George W. Collins, Louis Stokes, Ralph Metcalfe, John Conyers, and Walter Fauntroy. Seated L-R: Robert N.C. Nix, Sr., Charles Diggs, Shirley Chisholm, and Augustus F. Hawkins. 1971. Source: U.S. Congress/Wikimedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Chisholm#/media/File:CBCfoundingmembers.jpg
Black women politicians at CBC meeting
Seated at a table (left to right) Representative Eva Clayton, Senator Carol Moseley-Braun and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, possibly at a Congressional Black Caucus meeting. 1993. Source: Chris Martin/LOC, https://lccn.loc.gov/2015646958
Black Cabinet/Federal Council on Negro Affairs
The Black Cabinet members were advisors to Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933-1945. 1938. Source: Addison Scurlock/Wikimedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Black_Cabinet_Photo.jpg
Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt
Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt at the opening of a Public Buildings Administration residence hall built for Black girls. May 1943. Source: NARA/Wikimedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:(Mary_McLeod_Bethune),_%22Mrs._Eleanor_Roosevelt_and_others_at_the_opening_of_Midway_Hall,_one_of_two_residence_halls_buil_-_NARA_-_533032.jpg
First African-American in the U.S. Senate
Newspaper illustration of The Senate of the United States. Feb 11, 1871. Source: Schomburg Center, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47db-c5c3-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
John W. Menard
Carte-de-visite of John W. Menard, first Black man elected to the House of Representatives, shown in bust portrait. 1868-1870. Source: NMAAHC, https://collections.si.edu/search/record/ark:/65665/fd5d6cd6bafd5e549b5b55e8b7c77435c5b
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Green New Deal
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (center) speaks on the Green New Deal with Senator Ed Markey (right) in front of the Capitol Building in February 2019. Feb 7, 2019. Source: Senate Democrats/Wikimedia, https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdmc/46105848855/
Maxine Waters 2017 Tax March
John Mercer Langston
Portrait of John Mercer Langston, first Black Congressman for Virginia. Source: Schomburg Center
