... 1870, Secretary of State Hamilton Fish proclaimed the 15th Amendment fully ratified. The Amendment guaranteed that "[t]he 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." Of this the Library of Congress' website states:
[T]he promise of the 15th Amendment would not be fully realized for almost a century. Through the use of poll taxes, literacy tests and other means, Southern states were able to effectively disenfranchise African Americans. It would take the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 before the majority ofAfrican Americans in the South were registered to vote.
... 2006, Portia Simpson Miller (left), about whom IntLawGrrl Karen E. Bravo posted here, was sworn in as Jamaica's Prime Minister, the 1st woman to hold that position. She lost the post in September 2007 after her party was defeated in parliamentary elections. While head of Jamaica's government, she was listed among Forbes' 100 Most Powerful Women.
