who was the first black person to register to vote
Thomas Mundy Peterson
title: Hartman Turnbow text: April 1963, Turnbow, with a group of 13 other African Americans, including Hollis Watkins, Ozell Mitchell, and Alma Mitchell Carnegie, went to the Holmes County courthouse to register to vote. They became known as the "First 14." There they were approached by the deputy sheriff who, with his weapon drawn, said to the group, "Alright. Who's first?" At that point, Turnbow stepped forward and told the deputy sheriff "Me, Hartman Turnbow. I came here to die to vote. I'm the first." Hartman became the first African American to successfully register to vote in Mississippi and the first African American to title: Thomas Mundy Peterson text: New Jersey, March 31 is annually celebrated as "Thomas Mundy Peterson Day" in recognition of his historic vote. Thomas Mundy Peterson Thomas Mundy Peterson (October 6, 1824 – February 4, 1904) of Perth Amboy, New Jersey was the first African-American to vote in an election under the just-enacted provisions of the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution. His vote was cast on March 31, 1870. He was born in Metuchen, New Jersey. His father, also named Thomas, worked for the Mundy family. He was a slave and his mother, Lucy Green, was a slave of Hugh Newell (1744–1816) of title: African Americans text: citizenship to whites only. The 14th Amendment (1868) gave African-Americans citizenship, and the 15th Amendment (1870) gave African-American males the right to vote (only males could vote in the U.S. at the time). African Americans quickly set up congregations for themselves, as well as schools and community/civic associations, to have space away from white control or oversight. While the post-war Reconstruction era was initially a time of progress for African Americans, that period ended in 1876. By the late 1890s, Southern states enacted Jim Crow laws to enforce racial segregation and disenfranchisement. Segregation, which began with slavery, continued with Jim title: Thomas Mundy Peterson text: Thomas Mundy Peterson Thomas Mundy Peterson (October 6, 1824 – February 4, 1904) of Perth Amboy, New Jersey was the first African-American to vote in an election under the just-enacted provisions of the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution. His vote was cast on March 31, 1870. He was born in Metuchen, New Jersey. His father, also named Thomas, worked for the Mundy family. He was a slave and his mother, Lucy Green, was a slave of Hugh Newell (1744–1816) of Freehold Township, New Jersey. Thomas was manumitted at age 21 by Newell's will. He was a school principal title: George W. Lee text: churches, he also opened a small grocery store. Lee considered both vocations as serving the African-American community. In a back room of his house, he and his wife, Rosebud, set up a small printing business. These efforts provided enough resources that Lee felt he had a base for entering the battle for civil rights in the early 1950s. As a part of the NAACP, Lee worked tirelessly in trying to register African Americans to vote. Lee was the first black in memory to register to vote in Humphreys County, Mississippi (where blacks were a majority of the population but had