When did blacks get the right to vote?

American blacks were given the right to vote on February 3, 1870 by the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution. While this amendment aimed to give all blacks this freedom, the South unfairly limited voting by enforcing literacy tests, poll taxes and other obstacles.

The voting blocks put in place in the South remained there for almost a century. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 eliminated tests, fees and other unfair obstacles and allowed the majority of blacks in the South to register to vote.

Women were not given the right to vote until the 19th Amendment was passed on June 4, 1919, winning the battle for women's suffrage.