CHAPTER 16

0.   Black franchise officially became part of the Constitution with the Fifteenth Amendment, adopted in 1870, that stipulated: ‘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,’ but in practice such things as white terrorism, literacy tests and local state laws meant that few blacks got the chance to vote.