Items tagged Voting (37 total)

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Writing to his friend, James Sullivan, who was a member of the Massachusetts General Court, Adams sets forth his arguments against giving women, children, and property-less men the right to vote.

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Item Type: Diary/Letter
Date: 1776

In this activity students learn about literacy tests and other barriers that kept black Southerners from being able to vote. Students also take a 1960s literacy test from Alabama.

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Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2007

James Sullivan, a state court judge in Massachusetts and colleague of John Adams, was often sympathetic to those who thought women and non-elite men should have a voice in the new nation’s government. Adams disagreed, explaining to Sullivan why men without property and women should be excluded. Some spelling changes and edits have been made…

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Item Type: Diary/Letter
Date: 1776

James Sullivan, a state court judge in Massachusetts and colleague of John Adams, was often sympathetic to those who thought women and non-elite men should have a voice in the new nation’s government. Adams disagreed, explaining to Sullivan why women and the poor should be excluded. Some spelling changes and edits have been made to improve…

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Item Type: Diary/Letter
Date: 1776

Following the Civil War and abolition of slavery, Republicans in Congress passed reconstruction laws meant to guarantee full citizenship and suffrage to African Americans. The 14th amendment required states to guarantee the rights of all citizens, including the right to vote for male inhabitants over the age of 21. The 14th amendment also contained…

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Item Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Though civil rights workers in Mississippi have often been characterized as young college students, both black and white, from out-of-state, the hard work of bringing potential voters to polls was usually done by local black Mississippians of all ages. One such activist was M.A. Phelps, a grassroots worker who wrote this letter to Robert L.T.…

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Item Type: Diary/Letter
Date: 1962

Fannie Lou Hamer, the last of 20 children and a Mississippi tenant farmer, leapt to national prominence during the 1964 Democratic National Convention, when she eloquently challenged Mississippi's segregated Democratic primary on national television. In 1962, she had become a leader of the African-American voting rights movement in Mississippi that…

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Item Type: Oral History
Date: 1972

The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) enlisted young people and local leaders to register and encourage southern African Americans to vote during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Because the young organizers faced tremendous risks by challenging segregation and encouraging people to vote, the group earned a reputation as the…

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Item Type: Oral History
Date: 1995

This photograph was published in a report chronicling the intimidation and violence towards African-American voting activists. As the original photo caption notes, police documented voters as they entered courthouses so that the "evidence" could later be used to identify them to employers and landlords for possible firing and eviction. The report…

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Item Type: Photograph
Date: Circa 1964

In 1848 a group of 300 women and men, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, met in Seneca Falls, New York to outline a list of demands for women’s equality. The Declaration of Sentiments, modeled on the U.S. Declaration of Independence, included a list of grievances directed at the male-led government. It was signed by…

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Item Type: Pamphlet
Date: 1848