WASHINGTON, March 31, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
PRIMARY VOTER
Profile America — Friday, March 31st. The 15th Amendment to the Constitution declared the right to vote "shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." It was ratified on February 3, 1870. The new, affirmed civil right was first exercised on this date that year, though in a decidedly minor electoral matter. Thomas Peterson-Mundy, a former slave, was the first African-American to exercise the franchise, casting a vote in favor of revising the charter for Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Peterson-Mundy himself was elected to a committee to draft the change. In the non-presidential election of 2014, almost 40 percent of the Black alone population over the age of 18, some 11 million citizens, reported voting. Profile America is in its 20th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Sources:
15th Amendment/accessed 12/29/2016: http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/15thamendment.html
First black voter/accessed 12/29/2016: http://blackamericaweb.com/70957/little-known-black-history-fact-thomas-mundy-peterson/
2014 voting/table 2 Black alone: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/tables/p20/577/table02_4.xls
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotion of the U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics and accounts drawn from cited non-Census sources are employed for illustrative or narrative purposes, and are not attested to by the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Audio" in the "Library" pull-down menu).
SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
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