The Fifteenth Amendment And Its Results.

A group of black men on horseback lead a procession through the streets of Baltimore on May 19, 1870, to celebrate the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, which granted suffrage to African American males. The central image is flanked by two columns labeled as "Education" and "Science"; atop the columns are ballot boxes surrounded by oak leaves. To the left of the education column, an African American schoolteacher instructs his students in geography next to the education column, while a stonemason and blacksmith are depicted to the right of the science column. The images are tied together by arches emblazoned with the language of the Fifteenth Amendment: "The Right of Citizens of the United States to Vote Shall Not Be Denied or Abridged by the United States or Any State on Account of Race Color or Condition of Servitude." Oval portraits at bottom depict social reformer Frederick Douglass, at left, and  Mississippi senator Hiram R. Revels, at right. Key white benefactors to the African American cause are portrayed at top: former U. S. president Abraham Lincoln at center; current president Ulysses S. Grant and vice president Schuyler Colfax at left; and abolitionist martyr John Brown and Baltimore jurist Hugh Lenox Bond at right. The lithograph, "Respectfully dedicated to the colored citizens of the U.S. of America," was commissioned by Schneider & Fuchs, a Baltimore company that specialized in mirrors and framed prints.