Fifteenth Amendment, amendment (1870) to the Constitution of the United States that guaranteed that the right to vote could not be denied based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The amendment complemented and followed in the wake of the passage of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendments, which abolished slavery and guaranteed citizenship, respectively, to African Americans. The passage of the Fifteenth Amendment and its subsequent ratification (February 3, 1870) effectively enfranchised African American men while denying the right to vote to women of all colors. After the Civil War, during the period known as Reconstruction (1865–77), the amendment was successful in encouraging African Americans to vote. ... Many African Americans were even elected to public office during the 1880s in the states that formerly had constituted the Confederate States of America.
