A History of Stolen Citizenship

By

Pippa Holloway

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Occupy Wall Street and members of the NAACP at a 2011 protest in New York.

Stop Voter Suppression

Occupy Wall Street and members of the NAACP at a 2011 protest in New York.

Eight scenes of African American men voting or attempting to vote in the South in the 1860s.

Black Suffrage in the South

Eight scenes of African American men voting or attempting to vote in the South in the 1860s.

Picketers at the 1963 March on Washington.

March on Washington

Picketers at the 1963 March on Washington.

Portraits of black life in celebration of the 15th Amendment in 1870.

The Fifteenth Amendment

Portraits of black life in celebration of the 15th Amendment in 1870.

A 2017 map of disfranchisement laws in the U.S.

Felony Disfranchisement

A 2017 map of disfranchisement laws in the U.S.

A variation on an 'I voted' sticker.

Can’t Vote

A variation on an “I voted” sticker to raise awareness of those who are not allowed to vote.

A 1917 receipt for a poll tax in Jefferson Parish, LA.

Poll Tax

A 1917 receipt for a poll tax in Jefferson Parish, LA. Until the 24th Amendment in 1964, many states required proof of payment of a poll tax in order to register to vote.

A 2016 map depicting the rates of African American felony disfranchisement.

African American Felony Disfranchisement

A 2016 map depicting the rates of African American felony disfranchisement [curtsey of The Sentencing Project].

Eastern State Penitentiary.

Eastern State Penitentiary

Eastern State Penitentiary, a Pennsylvania prison built in 1829, to emphasize reform rather than punishment of prisoners.

A 2016 map of felony disfranchisement laws by state.

Felony Disfranchisement By State

A 2016 map of felony disfranchisement laws by state.

An 1867 cartoon depicting an enfranchised black man and a sulking Confederate.

We Accept the Situation

An 1867 cartoon depicting an enfranchised black man and a sulking Confederate.

A statue that was on the grounds of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill until 2018.

Silent Sam

A statue that was on the grounds of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill until 2018. The 1913 dedication of the statue glorified the Confederacy, the Ku Klux Klan, and a public whipping of an African American fifty years earlier.

An 1867 depiction of a black woman being whipped in North Carolina.

Whipping of a Negro Girl

An 1867 depiction of a black woman being whipped in North Carolina.

A Louisiana slave in 1863 with scars from numerous whippings.

The Scars of Slavery

An infamous depiction of a Louisiana slave in 1863 with scars from numerous whippings.

Two Delaware prisoners in 1907 being whipped while tied to a post.

Whipping Post

Two Delaware prisoners in 1907 being whipped while tied to a post.

A whipping post in a Baltimore City Jail used from 1865 to 1938.

Baltimore Whipping Post

A whipping post in a Baltimore City Jail used from 1865 to 1938 [McFee Photography Collection].

A Delaware whipping post and pillory around the turn-of-the-century.

Pillory and Whipping Post

A Delaware whipping post and pillory around the turn-of-the-century.

An 1876 cartoon depicting intimidation of an African American voter.

“Of Course He Wants to Vote the Democratic Ticket”

An 1876 cartoon depicting intimidation of an African American voter.

An 1880s Georgia pamphlet on the convict lease system.

Convict Catechism

An 1880s Georgia pamphlet on the convict lease system.

A depiction of convicts in the South in the 1870s.

Convict Lease

A depiction of convicts in the South in the 1870s.

An 1874 depiction of discrimination against would-be black voters by the 'White League.'

Everything Points to a Democratic Victory

An 1874 depiction of discrimination against would-be black voters by the “White League.”

A handbill urging the defeat of the segregation bill in St. Louis.

Shall St. Louis be the Slave Master?

On St. Louis’s ballot in 1916 was an ordinance designed to maintain segregated housing. It passed by a two-thirds majority despite handbills like this one urging the defeat of the segregation bill.

Prisoners performing fieldwork in Mississippi around 1911.

Parchman Penal Farm

Prisoners performing fieldwork in Mississippi around 1911.

Inmates at a Washington State prison growing sagebrush for the Bureau of Land Management in 2015.

Coyote Ridge Corrections Center

Inmates at a Washington State prison growing sagebrush for the Bureau of Land Management in 2015.

A graph showing the increase in the U.S. prison population from 1920 to 2014.

Incarcerated Americans

A graph showing the increase in the U.S. prison population from 1920 to 2014.

First Lady Nancy Reagan holding a 'Just Say No' sign.

Just Say No

First Lady Nancy Reagan holding a “Just Say No” sign, the slogan for her anti-drug campaign, with President Ronald Reagan in 1986.

Senator and future Vice President Joe Biden speaking at the signing of the 1994 Crime Bill.

Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act

Senator and future Vice President Joe Biden speaking at the signing of the 1994 Crime Bill.

A graph depicting the racial breakdown of inmates in 2009.

Percent of Adult Males Incarcerated

A graph depicting the racial breakdown of inmates in 2009.

A 2011 protest in New York demanding bans on felons voting be lifted.

Ex-Felon Voting

A 2011 protest in New York demanding bans on felons voting be lifted.

A 2011 protest sign in New York.

Free and Unfettered

A 2011 protest sign in New York.

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