January 27, 2017
The 15th Amendment to the Constitution

“But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no Virginia: longer male and female;  for all of you are one in  Christ Jesus. And  if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:25-29

-Seceded: April 17, 1861
-Admitted into C.S.: May 7, 1861
-Readmitted into U.S.: Jan. 26, 1870

On this date, January 27, 1870, the state of Virginia is readmitted to the Union after accepting the 15th amendment.

The 15th Amendment to the Constitution granted African American men the right to vote by declaring that the “right of citizens of the United States 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.” Although ratified on February 3, 1870, the promise of the 15th Amendment would not be fully realized for almost a century. Southern states were able to effectively disenfranchise African Americans through the use of poll taxes, literacy tests and other means. It would take the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 before the majority of African Americans in the South were registered to vote.

My daughter recently went to see the movie Hidden Figures. This movie is based on a true story about a team of African-American women who provided NASA with important mathematical data needed to launch the program’s first successful space missions. In this movie, my daughter first encountered the idea of separate “Black” and “White” bathrooms, lunch counters and entrances and exits. To put it bluntly, she had a lot of questions, and was appalled at the way blacks were treated – and many would say are still treated today. The 15th Amendment, an important piece of legislation that guaranteed the right to vote no matter the color of your skin, still took one hundred years from ratification to the passage of additional legislation to finally see a majority of blacks registered to vote. Why? Well, that is another conversation for me and my daughter to have – because if we do not remember the past, as they say, we are in danger of repeating our mistakes. And with G-d’s blessings, and the help of the Holy Spirit, we will continue to ensure the inalienable rights of all people to “life, liberty and property”, as John Locke would say. Who was John Locke? There is another conversation for another time.

Pastor Dave