The Fifteenth Amendment. Celebrated May 19th 1870.
Thomas Kelly, James C. Beard
New York, 1870
 
Hand-colored lithograph designed by artist James C. Beard and published by the famed Thomas Kelly - active in both Philadelphia and New York, Kelly published many scenes of American life. Beard was an artist of prolific output throughout the mid and late 19th century.
 
24 x 30 in. Top of upper margin with some small short tears strengthened along the top of the verso. Margins lightly toned with the shadow of an old frame. Overall in Near Fine condition, the image bright and crisp. Of its two published sizes, this is the lithograph’s rarer large version.
 
‘The lithograph marks the enactment, on March 30th, 1870, of the Fifteenth Amendment and shows the grand May 19th celebratory parade in Baltimore. Here the central image shows the parade crossing a green in sight of Baltimore's Washington Monument. A float carrying four young women wearing crowns and sheltered by a canopy, drawn by four white horses, leads the parade. The float is followed by a troop of Zouave drummers, two rows of men in top hats, as well as ranks of troops and other floats. The parade scene is surrounded by several vignettes. 
 
In the upper corners appear bust portraits of President Ulysses S. Grant and Vice President Schuyler S. Colfax. In the top center are three black leaders: author and the first black major in the U.S. Army, Martin Robinson Delany; abolitionist and U.S. marshal for the District of Columbia, Frederick Douglass; and Mississippi’s Senator Hiram Rhodes Revels. 
 
At the sides are a young black man reading the Emancipation Proclamation, three black men with Masonic sashes and banners("We Unite in the Bonds of Fellowship with the Whole Human Race"), an open Bible("Our Charter of Rights"), and a bust portrait of Abraham Lincoln. 
 
In the lower left corner is a classroom scene in a black school labeled "Education Will Prove the Equality of the Races." In the lower right corner a black pastor preaches to his congregation with the motto, "The Holy Ordinances of Religion Are Free" below. To the right of the central scene are: two free blacks who "till our own fields;" a black officer commanding his troops("We Will Protect Our Country as It Defends Our Rights"); a bust portrait of John Brown; and a black man reading to his family("Freedom Unites the Family Circle"). The bottom row shows three more scenes: a black wedding ceremony("Liberty Protects the Marriage Alter"); a black man voting("The Ballot Box Is Open To Us"); and Senator Revels in the House of Representatives("Our Representative Sits in the National Legislature”).’(Library of Congress)
 
The 15th Amendment sought to protect the voting rights of Black men after the Civil War. Ratified in 1870, it would take nearly another 100 years with the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act to finally enforce the amendment. 
 
Ref:
 
The Fifteenth Amendment. Celebrated May 19th, 1870/from an original design by James C. Beard., Library of Congress