Freedom House in Jonesboro.
Black and white activists strategized to protect and
empower Black citizens across North Louisiana at the
Freedom House in Jonesboro.
Riot in New Orleans in 1866
Southern Republicans pursued
Black enfranchisement in the state
constitutional convention of 1866.

Right to Vote

Louisiana Civil Rights Museum

Before the 15th Amendment banned racial disenfranchisement in 1870, an interracial coalition gathered in New Orleans in 1866 to draft a state constitution that would grant Black men the right to vote, but supporters faced opposition in one of the era’s most violent riots. Numerous civil rights efforts pursued this fundamental right against poll taxes, literacy tests, and property ownership qualification, until passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.