The Fifteenth Amendment Celebrated May 19th, 1870
date: label: Date made
content: 1870
label: date of depicted image
content: 1870-05-19
name: label: depicted
content: Delany, Martin Robinson
label: depicted
content: Lincoln, Abraham
label: depicted
content: Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson)
label: depicted
content: Douglass, Frederick
label: depicted
content: Brown, John
label: depicted
content: Colfax, Schuyler
label: depicted
content: Revels, Hiram Rhodes
label: maker
content: Kelly, Thomas
label: artist
content: Beard, James Carter
notes: label: Description
content: This commemorative print celebrates the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. The central panel depicts the parade in Baltimore on May 19, 1870, the largest celebration honoring the amendment's passage. The parade lasted more than five hours, was over a mile in length, and had more than 20,000 spectators. Note the Baltimore Washington Monument in the background, the troop of Zouave drummers, and the African American men wearing Masonic sashes. The central image is surrounded by sixteen small vignettes containing portraits of individuals and events that were influential in securing voting rights for all American males regardless of race. These include four white men: Abraham Lincoln, in upper left President Ulysses S. Grant, a bust of abolitionist John Brown, abolitionist, orator, and Grant’s Vice President Schuyler S. Colfax. The African American leaders in the center are D.C. US Marshall Frederick Douglas, Mississippi Senator Hiram Rhodes Revels depicted sitting in Congress, and Martin Robison Delany, author and 1st African American major in US Army. The surrounding scenes optimistically depict the of expected benefits of the amendment such as a African American wedding ceremony presuming freedom to marry without impediment, a African American man voting, scenes depicting African Americans at worship and in school, and an image of former slaves tilling their own fields.
label: Description
content: The brightly colored chromolithograph was created by graphic artist James Carter Beard and published/ issued by the Irish immigrant lithographer Thomas Kelly. It was published in New York. Two sizes of this print were produced; this is the larger version. Thomas Kelly learned the craft of lithography in Philadelphia from his father. He moved to New York, where he established a print and frame dealership and continued to publish picturesque scenes of American life. He is possibly the same Thomas Kelly who printed Catholic Bibles and prayer-books in New York, winning an award for these at the 1876 Centennial Exposition.
label: Description
content: For more detailed information about the vignettes in this print see: http://americanhistory.si.edu/Brown/resources/pdfs/unit1/2-15th-amendment-print.pdf
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
label: depicted
content: United States: Maryland, Baltimore
topic: label: Subject
content: Horses
label: Subject
content: Patriotism and Patriotic Symbols
label: Subject
content: Children
label: Subject
content: Uniforms, Military
label: Subject
content: Reform Movements
label: depicted
content: African American
label: Subject
content: Uniforms, fraternal
label: Subject
content: U.S. National Government, executive branch
label: Subject
content: U.S. National Government, judiciary
label: Subject
content: U.S. National Government, legislative branch
label: Subject
content: Chronology: 1870-1879
label: Subject
content: Holidays and Celebrations, general
label: referenced
content: United States Constitution, Fifteenth Amendment
label: depicted
content: Blacks
label: referenced
content: Civil War
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
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content: American Civil War Prints
label: See more items in
content: American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith
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content: Art
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.60.2611
label: catalog number
content: 60.2611
label: accession number
content: 228146
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Lithograph
label: Object Type
content: Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 18 5/8 in x 25 1/2 in; 47.3075 cm x 64.77 cm