"Freedmen Voting in New Orleans" - 1867 depiction of African Americans previously enslaved, actively involved with the election.

This political cartoon by Thomas Nast appeared in the March 16, 1867, issue of Harper's Weekly. Its purpose was to point out that black voters were seen with distaste as they voted by the white men.

These images relate to the fifteenth amendment reading assigned for this week. The fifteenth amendment gave the negroes the power to vote. Therefore, the earlier poor and bounded black slaves can be seen in the first picture with fancy clothes and standing in queues to vote. The other picture depicts the black man voting which is not a very pleasant thing for the whites to observe. We can see the whites making faces as the black man approaches to vote. The white’s hatred against freedom to vote for the blacks can be clearly seen on their faces.