First Vote

First Vote

African Americans, suffrage, politics

African Americans in several states, including Virginia, voted for the first time in the autumn of 1867. In this image, a white man is seen conducting the election. An old African American, probably a former slave and wearing patched clothes, deposits his ballot in the glass bowl. Behind him is a well-dressed man, who may have been free before the war, a soldier still in uniform, another man in work clothes, and still other men in line waiting to exercise their right to vote.

Alfred R. Waud

Harper's Weekly, November 16, 1867

Harper and Brothers

November 1867

Library of Virginia

CC BY-SA

JPG

Engraving

01_1138_18

United States