An illustration of Black people in line to vote. Harper's Weekly Magazine. At the time of Ulysses S. Grant's election to the presidency in 1868, Americans were struggling to reconstruct a nation torn ...

On this day in history, Feb. 3, 1870, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified — granting African American men the right to vote. The amendment declared that the "right of citizens of ...

Editor's note: This is a regular feature on issues related to the Constitution and civics education written by Paul G. Summers, retired judge and state attorney general. The Fifteenth Amendment was ...

We hear it all the time, “Voting is your civic duty,” or “Voting is the primary language of a democracy.” But what does it really mean? Voting is a powerful tool for shaping the future, a right that ...

Less than half of the world’s people live in functioning democracies, but we do. We live in a country where we get to vote and where our votes matter. We can celebrate that privilege tomorrow, Feb. 3.

Juneteenth is a play on the date of June 19, 1865, when the Union Army, led by general Granger marched into Texas and announced that all enslaved African Americans were free. It is pretty much well ...

At nearly 90, William A. Kinnison is a habitual historian. Each morning, he checks the “this day in history” feature in the Springfield News-Sun. And over coffee Nov. 2 in the Wittenberg University ...