ThomasMundyPeterson
TargetAge:High School
TimePeriod:19thCenturyFeaturedCounty:MiddlesexNJ350thTheme:Liberty
NJ Common CoreStandards:
Social Studies:6.1.12.A.3.f, 6.1.12.D.4aand b,
Social StudiesSkills:Chronological Thinking,CriticalThinking
LanguageArtsLiteracy:3.1Reading,3.2Writing
Courtesyof Division of Political History,NationalMuseumof American History.
ESSENTIALQUESTION: Howdid NewJerseycitizenThomasMundyPeterson impact the libertyof notonlyNewJersey,butalsothe restoftheUnited States? Howishislegacystillfelttoday?
BACKGROUND:
Followingits ratification bytherequisitethree-fourthsofthe states,the15thAmendment,grantingAfrican-Americanmen theright to vote,wasformallyadopted into the U.S.Constitutionensuring that“the rightofcitizensoftheUnited Statesto voteshallnot bedeniedor abridgedbytheUnited Statesorby any Stateon account ofrace, color,or previouscondition ofservitude.”OnMarch 31,1870,onedayafteritwasadopted, ThomasPetersonMundyofPerth Amboy,NewJerseybecamethe firstAfricanAmericanto voteundertheauthority ofthisnewlaw.
NewJersey’slegislativerecord onraceandsuffrage iscomplicatedandrevealsjusthowremarkableMundy’sactionswere. In1865,theThirteenthAmendment(which abolished slavery)was notinitiallyratifiedbythe NewJerseyState Legislature,althoughratification did followin 1866.After achange inleadership thelegislaturealsoratified theFourteenthAmendmentthatyear,butwhen politicalleadership changedyetagain,theratification wasrescinded in 1868.Keeping truetothenowestablished pattern,the NewJerseyStateLegislaturevotedagainstratification ofthe FifteenthAmendment in1870.TheAmendment,which gaveblackmen therightto vote,was ratifiedonMarch30,1870despitethe lackofsupportfromNewJersey.ThomasMundyPeterson casthis historicvotetheverynextday.
Yearslater,Peterson likedtodescribehowonewhiteman,uponseeing him vote,rippeduphisownballotand declared thatthefranchisewasworthless if a blackmanwas allowedto vote;Petersonsaidthat particularwhiteman did notvoteagain forat least a decade. But notall whitesopposedblack
suffrage.Somepoliticalfiguresrecognized thatblackscould bean importantvoting bloc and soughttheir support.
Peterson remained anactivememberof the Perth Amboycommunity forthe restof hislife,continuingto voteand evenservingon thetown’scommitteeto revise theCity Charter. Through his actions,hebecameoneof themanyNewJersey citizenswho pushedforward thecauseof liberty,even inthe faceofopposition and discrimination.
ACTIVITY:
Ask studentstocreatea class-generateddefinition ofliberty,oneofthe centralthemesof theNJ350“ItHappened Here: NewJerseyProject.” Afterconsensus is reached,share adictionarydefinition ofliberty(such as anonlinesource:
Withthis information inmind,havestudentsdiscusshowPeterson foughtforliberty. AskthemtospeculateabouthowhisvoteaffectedAfrican-American men,the futurevotesofwomen, aswell aslibertyfor allAmericans.
Youcanalsoaskstudentstoconsiderwhowasstillunable to exercise theirvotein 1870(women, NativeAmericans,andmanyAfrican Americanswho,evenafterthe15thAmendmentwas ratified federally,faced racialviolenceand intimidation atstateand locallevels intendedtodiscourage its application).
OnMay30,1884,thetownofPerthAmboypresentedThomasMundyPetersonwith amedallioncommemorating hishistoricvote(seeimagesbelow).Peterson worethemedallion faithfully,andit isnowpreservedbyXavierUniversityof Louisiana.
Courtesyof Xavier Universityof Louisiana Archives and SpecialCollections.
Courtesyof Xavier Universityof Louisiana Archives andSpecialCollections.
Themedallionreads:PRESENTEDbyCITIZENSOFPERTHAMBOYN.J.
TO THOMASPETERSON
THEFIRSTCOLORED VOTERINTHEU.S.UNDERTHEPROVISIONSOFTHE
15THAMENDMENTAT AN
ELECTION HELDINTHATCITY MARCH31st1870
WhymightPerthAmboy citizenshavefelt itwasnecessarytoraisethe$70dollars(equivalent to $1000in 2010)in ordercommission thismedal?On themedallion is theimageofPresident AbrahamLincoln.Ask thestudentstomaketheconnection betweentheimageof Lincoln and the significanceofthevote.
FOLLOW-UP:
On June25th,2013,the U.S.SupremeCourtoverturned Section 4oftheVoting RightsAct.Congressfirstpassed theVotingRightsActof1965to counterracialdiscrimination invoting,which it believedstilloccurredin certain areasofthecountry,especiallyin somesouthernstates. Section 4(a)ofthe Actestablished criteriato identifythoseareasandremedieswhereappropriate,suchas a five-yearsuspensionof“a testor device,”suchas a literacytest as a prerequisitetoregisterto vote. Italsorequired thatstates inthose areascould notpasslawsaboutvoting behavioror restrictionswithoutfederalapproval.
OnJune25,2013,theU.S.SupremeCourtoverturnedSection 4.John Roberts,theChief Justice,wrotethat thecourtmadethe decision becauseSection 4“isbased onforty-year-old facts andhasnologicalrelationto thepresentday.” FollowingthisSupremeCourtdecision,on August 12,2013,NorthCarolina’sgovernor,PatMcCrory,signedintolawoneofthe nation’smoststringentvoteridentificationlaws. Themeasurerequiresvoterstopresent government-issuedphoto identification atthepolls andshortenstheearlyvoting period from17to 10days.Itwillalsoend pre-registration for16- and17-year-old voterswhowill be18on ElectionDayand eliminatessame-dayvoterregistration.
Thefollowingwebsitesoffer a rangeofopinionson thesubjectofvoterregistration andstateregulation.Dividestudents intosmallgroups and assigneach grouponearticle.Ask them to take a fewmomentstoread thearticleand identifyitskeyarguments,thencometogetheras a class andsharetheir findings(T-chartswork wellhere)abouttheprosandconsofvoterID cards.
20130727,0,2299545.story
extensive-voter-id-law/
Studentsshould beencouraged tolistas manyideasaspossible,aswell asbepoliticallysensitive—thisis a contentiousissue. Afterthelisthasbeengenerated,theteachershould promptstudentswithadditionalquestionsto encouragefurtherthought:
Who mightormightnothave agovernmentissuedID,andwhyorwhy not?If we need IDtogetonanairplane, whynotneed itforvoting?
Finally, afterthegeneration of thelistand thearguments, and thesubsequentclass discussion, askstudentsto maketheconnection toThomasMundyPeterson.Thiscan bedone in theformofexitslips,small discussionsor formalwriting assignments.
WANTTOLEARNMORE?
PlacesYouCanVisit
St. Peter’sEpiscopalChurch,PerthAmboy,NJ:BurialSite ofThomasMundyPeterson.
ThomasMundyPeterson School(formerlyknown asP.S. No. 1),StateStreet,Perth Amboy.
For MoreInformation
NewJersey Citizens,PerthAmboy,HistoryandProceedingsattending thePresentation of aMedal toThomasPeterson-Mundy,DecorationDay,May30,1884(Washington,D.C.:Libraryof Congress,1884).Thisforty-fourpagereproductionwas printedfromadigital filecreated attheLibrary ofCongress aspart ofan extensivescanning effortstarted with a generousdonation fromtheAlfredP. SloanFoundation. Availableonline at
MarionThompsonWright,“Extending CivilRightsin NewJersey throughtheDivision againstDiscrimination,”JournalofNegro History, 38:1(Jan.1953):91-107.
HanesWaltonJr,Donald RDeskins Jr andShermanPuckett,TheAfrican American Electorate: AStatisticalHistory (ThousandOaks, CA:CQ Press, 2012).
VoterID:
TheVoting RightsActof1965:
SupremeCourtoverturning of section4 oftheVoting RightsAct
CREDITINFORMATION:
ClassroomActivity:
Pg.1:WoodenBallotBox,SmithsonianInstitute.
Pg.2:ThomasMundyPetersonMedallion(leftandright),XavierUniversity.
It Happened Here: NewJersey is a programof theNewJersey Historical Commission made possible by a grant fromtheNewJersey Council for theHumanities, astate partner oftheNational Endowmentfor theHumanities. Anyviews,findings,conclusions, or recommendations expressed intheprogramdo not necessarilyrepresentthoseof the National Endowmentfor theHumanities ortheNew Jersey CouncilfortheHumanities.To access more teachingresources created forthisprogramvisit