The 1965 Voting Rights Act is Recent History

Thomas Mundy Peterson is known as the first African American to cast a ballot on March 31, 1870, under the provisions of the newly ratified 15th Amendment. However, segregation and intimidation still kept many Black people from voting. Tiffani Silverman is the President of the Rensselaer County League of Women Voters, the first women of color in that position, and she spoke with Jalaya and Chris, Rensselaer Youth Employees at the Sanctuary, about the significance of the 1965 Voting Rights Act for her family and Black voting history.