Item #6349 The Fifteenth Amendment. Celebrated May 19th 1870. James C. Beard, after.

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Beard, James C., after.

The Fifteenth Amendment. Celebrated May 19th 1870.

New York: Published by Thomas Kelly, 1870. Hand-colored lithograph; sheet size, 21” x 27.5”; image size, 18.5” x 25.25”.

A splendid lithograph depicting the parade held in Baltimore on 19 May 1870 in celebration of the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, with surrounding vignettes portraying the rights, liberties, and civic participation of African-Americans.

This large print commemorates the passage on 30 March 1870 of the 15th Amendment, which gave African-American men the right to vote. Constituting the largest celebration of the Amendment's passage, the parade in Baltimore lasted over five hours, was a mile in length, and drew over 20,000 spectators. The 15th Amendment was the last of the three ‘Reconstruction Amendments’ establishing the broad legal framework for abolition, which until then was strictly a function of the Emancipation Proclamation, a war-time measure. The central image shows the parade at Washington Place, near Baltimore's Washington Monument, which is visible in the background. Leading the parade is a horse-drawn float carrying four young black women wearing crowns and standing under a canopy. The float is followed by a troop of black Zouave drummers; two rows of black freemasons wearing sashes and carrying banners; soldiers in red jackets; a rigged ship, as well as ranks of additional troops and other floats. Many spectators are shown on the outskirts of the procession—most of whom are white, some showing their support by doffing their hats. Also known to have participated in the procession were distinguished guests and speakers including H. J. Brown (who read a letter from abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison), Howard University Dean John M. Langston, Frederick Douglass, and others. The cavalcade was described by the Baltimore Sun as an “Imposing Procession of Civil, Military, Trade and Beneficial Associations.”

The central parade scene is surrounded by sixteen vignettes. The upper-corners feature bust portraits of President Ulysses S. Grant and Vice President Schuyler Colfax. At top-center are three black leaders: Frederick Douglass; Martin R. Delany (author and the first black Major in the U.S. Army), and Mississippi Senator Hiram R. Revels. On the left side 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. A classroom scene in a black school appears in the lower-left corner ("Education Will Prove the Equality of the Races"), while in the lower-right a black pastor preaches to his congregation ("The Holy Ordinances of Religion Are Free"). 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 an African American man reading to his family ("Freedom Unites the Family Circle"). In the bottom row are three additional scenes: an all-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, who filled the seat left vacant by Jefferson Davis in 1861 ("Our Representative Sits in the National Legislature"). Quoted in between the vignettes are the 15th Amendment as well as the Declaration of Independence.

Lithographer and publisher Thomas Kelly worked with his father John Kelly in Philadelphia prior to establishing his own company in 1863 in New York. Thomas Kelly published historical and landscape prints, his early work focusing on Civil War themes. He worked as a lithographer until 1879. James C. Beard served as a staff artist for D. Appleton & Co. and for Charles Scribner’s Sons in New York, in addition to working as a freelance illustrator.

In addition to this large folio print, Kelly published a much smaller version. OCLC records four copies of the larger version, held at AAS, Temple University, Pennsylvania State University, and Yale, as well as one copy of the smaller version at the Library of Congress.

A remarkable lithograph honoring African-Americans’s newfound recognition and role in the life of the nation.

REFERENCES: Hinckle, Amanda. Celebrating a Milestone: A Lithograph Honoring the Fifteenth Amendment (March 15, 2018) at museumblog.winterthur.org; Last, Jay. The Color Explosion : Nineteenth-Century American Lithography (Santa Ana, CA, 2005), p. 199; LCP. Exhibit Catalogue : Negro History, p. 78; Reilly, Bernard F. American Political Prints, 1766-1876 (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1991), entry 1870-4; The Fifteenth Amendment. Celebrated May 19th, 1870 / from an original design by James C. Beard at loc.gov

CONDITION: Good, some soiling, mainly in margins.

Item #6349

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