Equality in African American Voting and Representation

The Fifteenth Amendment to the United State's Constitution was ratified and set fully into law on February 3, 1870. This amendment read: " 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." This amendment was passed around the time of the abolition of slavery, freeing slaves and allowing black men to vote. Racially, this was a huge step forwards in racial equality in America. However, not all was totally well in for the people who wanted to vote. For one, women could still not vote. To be fair, however, this still held true for white women, and would not be changed until later. At this point, most black people living in the northern parts of the United States were able to vote freely. On the other hand, black men were still oppressed and prevented from voting in the South. This was because the people in power there imposed other restrictions on people allowed to vote, including poll taxes black people could not afford and literacy tests that many black people could not pass as a result of the lack of educational opportunities. Luckily, in 1964 the 24th amendment abolished poll taxes and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 banned literacy tests and allowed federal oversight of voting, so state and local officials could not ignore the laws put in place.

In the 114th Congress of the United States, African American people held 46 seats in the House of Representatives, approximately 10.6% of the total. This number has grown over the years, having only 36 in 2005, about 8.3%. Currently, African Americans make up approximately 12.5% of the population of the United States. Therefore, African American people are slightly under-represented in the congress. On the other hand, however, white people make up 63% of the United States' population but fill almost 80% of the seats in the senate, making them decidedly over-represented. In the senate there are four African American people, equating to four percent of the total senate, a large under-representation. The senate is also predominately white. However, these rates are very much higher than they were years ago, so progress is being made for greater equality in congressional representation. Also, Barack Obama, the previous President of the United States was an African American, showing greater progress towards equality in the government.

African Americans have achieved equality in terms of voting rights in the United States, and are rapidly approaching equality in government representation. With only a little bit more time, equality should be even closer, and as people become more accepting, equality should be even closer to being achieved.