HISTORIC BLACK VEGAS: The Fifteenth Amendment: Voting Rights

BY CLAYTEE D. WHITE

On February 26, 1869, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed — granting Black men the right to vote; not the Black majority, who were female, but just men. Men were the leaders of the country and heads of households. During this period of Reconstruction, Black men were granted this status as well. Black men voted for the household and they were elected to local, state, and national offices. Can we trust them to vote for the good of our households today? 

Our households need an end to racial disparities and systemic racism. We need the right for women to choose the medical treatment of their choice and we still aspire to social justice. There is one party that leans toward the support of this quest and the other in direct opposition. Many young Black men seem to be listening to members of the party that is in opposition to this more equitable way of life. 

On March 1, 1869, Nevada became the first state to ratify the 15th Amendment. Nevada lawmakers extended suffrage to the state’s small Black population but not to the larger Chinese American population. In simple terms, the 15th Amendment granted “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.” 

The Gold Hill Daily News (Tuesday, March 2, 1869, page 3), in a tiny article titled The Nevada Legislature Ratifies the Suffrage Constitutional Amendment, stated: “We have only time to announce the glorious news that last evening the Assembly passed the Constitutional Amendment proposed by Congress, regulating the suffrage, by a vote of 23 ayes to 16 nays and the Senate passed the same by a vote of 13 ayes to 6 nays. Glory be to God!” We are proud of this history. This fact has been quoted by our first Black Speaker of the Assembly, Jason Frierson, and last year by Nevada Assemblywoman Claire Thomas, regarding the June 8, 2023 law by Governor Joe Lombardo to make Juneteenth a state holiday: “As the first state to ratify the 15th Amendment, which gave African Americans [men] the right to vote,” she said, “Nevada has a long and proud history of supporting civil rights.” 

Las Vegas became a city in 1905 — and as far as current research goes, never tried to deny the vote to Blacks. Decent housing, fair banking practices, welfare rights, equal jobs, and justice from the legal system were all denied but voting seems to have been extended without impediments. This is important. Blacks throughout the South encountered attacks by dogs and high-powered water hoses, and just to register, they had to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar, pay poll taxes, and interpret portions of the Constitution (a task that Supreme Court justices find impossible to agree upon). Those voting-related injustices did not travel to Las Vegas with migrants from Fordyce, Arkansas or Tallulah, Louisiana, or from small towns in Mississippi. 

Have we used the vote successfully over the years of this city? In just a few months, how can we make a difference at the polls? Women, are you taking your vote seriously or are you allowing men to decide your vote? Women are still in the majority. 

Let me end by reminding all of us about the Republican Party’s leader’s most recent stunt pulled in a Black church in Detroit. Black people didn’t show up so his campaign packed the sanctuary with White maga (I use small letters to describe these people) folks. \ 

In today’s world, we know who still attends church — so Black elders, I thank you for having the courage to stand with justice and intelligence and true historical knowledge, and with morals and values. I have a suggestion for young Black people thinking about dishonoring historical truths and voting for the Republican liar, sexual predator, insurrection leader, and felon: go to great-grandma’s house and learn about life in the South before the Great Migration. Or remain at home right here in Las Vegas and remember. Remember that the first Blacks in Las Vegas lived downtown on Block 17 and were then moved across the tracks. But even during that early history from 1905–1930s, Blacks owned property. Mary Nettles owned three pieces of property on Block 17, ran a board house, and was one of the founders of our NAACP Branch. She voted! She was nonviolent! She spoke truth to power!