Download or read book To Cast a Freedman's Vote written by Gordon Bond and published by . This book was released on 2020-03-20 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On March 31, 1870, Thomas Peterson became the first African American in the United States to cast a ballot under the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The opportunity to become that first voter came to Peterson by luck, with the encouragement and celebration of his white neighbors in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. The city's unusually progressive community stood in contrast with what was happening elsewhere in the country, especially the rise of Jim Crow in the former Confederacy. As such, Peterson's story has been retold since mostly through a white lens, where the man becomes a prop. Looking beyond the moment that made him famous, however, reveals a more complicated and relevant narrative. His post-vote embrace of civic life as a citizen reflected the hope felt by many Black people during Reconstruction - a hope that would be largely killed within Peterson's lifetime, from the "Compromise of 1877" that ended Reconstruction to the "separate but equal" of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. Indeed, it resonates with 21st century conversations about race and suffrage. These days, Peterson's story is presented as a step in an evolution towards a more perfect union. Yet, by attempting to recenter him in the narrative, the story becomes more complicated, more fascinating, and more relevant. At the same time, that context makes what happened in that New Jersey port city 150 years ago all the more remarkable. Thomas Peterson sits at the intersection of suffrage, citizenship, and Civil Rights history.