january/february 2026 Edition
It’s Never Too Late For Accountability
At the turn of the 20th Century, Virginia’s Conservative Democrats tossed out the most liberating pro–people constitution the state had ever composed. Emboldened by Supreme Court decisions that protected segregation and disenfranchisement, as well as by Congress's unwillingness to follow through with dusty threats, 100 men traded the Constitution of 1870 for a grab bag of tactics meant to weed out the Republican vote, eliminate the Black electorate, and keep those in power white.
It was so clearly unpopular that the delegates proclaimed it into existence and coerced lawmakers and judges to legitimize it or lose their positions.
Not only did the 1902 Constitution violate protective mandates in the Constitution of 1870, which was ratified by the people, but it also ran afoul of the very Act of Congress that readmitted Virginia to the Union after the Civil War, as well as the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which had supremacy. Accordingly, Congress should have dismissed Virginia’s U.S. Senators and Representatives and revoked statehood, or at least put the state on probation, until rewritten to comply, or the former constitution was restored.
Congress abdicated, and the people turned to the courts, filing lawsuit after lawsuit, mostly on the basis that the Constitution was not put to a popular vote. In 1903, the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals addressed the concern in Taylor v. Commonwealth, ruling in favor of the conservatives and validating their constitution. Within five years, every legal challenge to reinstate the people’s rights had failed … until now.
Virginians revised the 1902 Constitution in 1971 to comply with the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. But they continued to disenfranchise one class of voters, those convicted of a felony, any and all felonies to be precise, which violates the Readmission Act of 1870. Virginia is also in defiance of the 14th Amendment’s due process clause because former convicts are required to navigate an opaque process to attempt to have their rights restored solely on the whim of Virginia’s Governor, according to a recent legal challenge.
On January 22, 2026, U.S. District Judge John Gibney ruled in favor of Virginia’s disenfranchised voters, and barred the state from disenfranchising anyone convicted of a felony that wasn’t a felony in 1870, stating,
“For well over a century, the Commonwealth of Virginia has disobeyed a federal law designed to protect the right of former enslaved people to vote. Nearly 125 years after Senator [Carter]Glass pleaded to ‘emancipate Virginia’ from Black voters, a class of would-be voters appears before this court asking for true emancipation at the commonwealth’s ballot boxes.”
So, how did we get here, and what does it mean that the people have to resurrect century-old Reconstruction Era laws written to stop states from discriminating against their own citizens to secure their God-given, constitutional rights?
Conservatives and the 1869 Constitution
To be readmitted to the U.S. and have representatives serve in Congress, the Military Reconstruction Act required Virginia to write a new constitution, ratify the 14th Amendment, and, because Virginia’s vote was delayed, the people also had to ratify the 15th Amendment and establish a statewide system of free schools.
The people called for a Constitutional Convention with a vote of 107,342 to 61,887. Only 14,635 of the men who voted in support of holding the convention were white. On the same day, Virginians elected 105 men to draft it. Among the delegates were:
- 24 African Americans, some of whom were Free before the war and some of whom had been enslaved;
- 36 white men who fought on the side of the Confederacy;
- 45 white men who had been loyal to the Union; some were newly arrived, and some had lived in Virginia all their lives.
The majority of the men at the convention were considered republicans. It quickly became clear to former Whigs and Democrats that they needed to band together to regain control of the state. Their political alliance resulted in the Conservative Party and then the Conservative Democrats.
Most of those who stayed loyal to the Union during the war joined the Unionists and eventually the Republican Party. Some Republicans, mostly from western counties, had been frustrated with the Enslavor Class who ruled Virginia and sidelined them for decades. Others were antebellum abolitionists who wanted to ensure Black citizens were treated equally; some took it further, wanting to hold those who led an insurrection against the nation accountable. Such pro-democracy views were deemed “radical” by conservatives.
One such “Radical” Republican, a former abolitionist and civil rights crusader, Judge John C. Underwood, was elected to chair the constitutional convention. Born and raised in New York, Underwood moved to Virginia in the 1830s to teach school. Over the next decade plus, he moved back and forth, studied law, and married a Virginian (who happened to be a relative of Stonewall Jackson). In 1849, the couple moved to the Old Dominion permanently.
Underwood was outspoken about slavery and about holding those who rebelled against the United States accountable. During the war, President Lincoln appointed Underwood as the federal judge for the Eastern District of Virginia. Conservatives took any and every opportunity to deride Underwood, especially after he attempted to indict former Confederate President Jefferson Davis for treason. Because conservatives dominated the press, and because Underwood became a casualty of the Lost Cause mythology, it may be surprising to hear that he actually had many supporters in Virginia. So much so that his name was put forward by those Virginians to serve as Military Governor during Reconstruction, which didn’t happen.
“Instead, he [Underwood] did something more important: He presided over the state’s constitutional convention,” wrote Cardinal News’ Dwayne Yancey, in John Underwood finally gets the recognition he deserves.
Another man who rose to prominence during the convention was Thomas Bayne, a self-liberated man who had worked on the Underground Railroad before moving to Massachusetts and becoming a dentist. He returned to Virginia at the close of the war to help lead the fight for equal rights. Bayne’s oratory skills were notable. He gave soaring speeches and dominated debates during the convention.
When the new constitution was released, conservative newspapers referred to it as the Bayne-Underwood Constitution, drawing on white fears of being ruled by Black men and punitive “Yankees.” In actuality, the Constitution of 1870 enshrined the values set forth in the Declaration of Independence while keeping intact the chain of legitimacy of the state’s constitutions going back to 1776, something the 1902 Constitution that later replaced it failed to do.
For the first time, Virginia’s Constitution included the Bill of Rights, and further protected citizens by declaring no one could limit “other rights of the people not herein expressed. The declaration of the political rights and privileges of the inhabitants of this State is hereby declared to be a part of the Constitution of this Commonwealth, and shall not be violated on any pretence whatsoever.”
It was “radical” in that it gave the power to the people to elect their local leaders who had previously been appointed by the legislature. It also did away with voting by voice, which was open to intimidation, abuse, and fraud, in favor of the secret ballot. The vote was given to all male citizens 21 years and older. Underwood tried but failed to get the vote for women. Clergy, previously banned from office, could run for, and hold office (In fact, they were encouraged in the hope they would bring integrity to government). Most admirably, this constitution is the first in this state to direct the General Assembly to set up a system of free schools, which they expected to be integrated.
They renounced secession, called out the concept of state’s rights that Virginia relied on to protect slavery, and they made Virginia’s laws submit to the superior authority of the U.S. Constitution. Just in case there was any question over the 14th Amendment, they wrote, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as lawful imprisonment may constitute such, shall exist within this State,” and “all citizens of the State are hereby declared to possess equal civil and political rights and public privileges.”
And they gave the Chief Executive a new tool: the veto.
Of all these changes, the conservatives liked only that the Governor could veto legislation. They were thoroughly dismayed by the embrace of the 14th and 15th Amendments requiring their own disenfranchisement while Black men were elevated. They called the clauses responsible for keeping them out of power “obnoxious.” And fought against their ratification for so long, the state’s reentry was delayed more than a year.
As a newly placed military governor, Gen. Canby reinvigorated the timeline for a ratification vote, a delegation of conservatives met with President Ulysses S. Grant. They asked for permission to hold a separate vote that would allow Virginians to accept the proposed constitution without having to agree to disenfranchise former insurrectionists. The agreement was struck, the obnoxious clauses parceled out, and in October 1869, the constitution was accepted while the accountability stipulations were defeated.1
Virginians were eager to be readmitted to the Union, but Congress still had to pass an act to officially welcome the state back and seat its representatives. Congress returned to business the first week of December, but the state would not be admitted until January 26, 1870 - in between, debate ensued.
Readmitting the Mother of States
It was 5 pm on Wednesday, Dec. 8, two days after Congress reconvened and two months after Virginia approved her new constitution, the 14th & 15th Amendments, and elected a Congressional delegation to be seated upon readmission. It was also the eve of a House Reconstruction Committee meeting where Virginia’s admission was finally on the docket. The Alexandria Gazette reported that members of the Republican Party were split because the state did away with the obnoxious clauses and elected a majority of conservatives to the Legislature.
A self-delegated group of Virginia legislators, who said they represented two-thirds of the General Assembly, knocked on the door of Gen. Benjamin Butler, a Massachusetts Republican and the Committee Chair, to lobby him.
Leading the delegation of conservatives were Virginia’s House Speaker Zephaniah Turner, Sen. Robert Owens, and Del. Robert Burkholder, all of whom had served in the Confederate military. They brought a signed Memorial in an effort to close the deal.
Before they started to read it, the Chair and host expressed his intention to move cautiously with regard to Virginia since both Georgia and Tennessee regained their status and then “broke faith” with Congress. In defiance of their new constitutions, Georgia didn’t let duly elected African Americans serve in the Legislature, and in Tennessee, Black residents were treated worse than they were ten years ago! Gen. Butler said the two states were guilty of perpetrating “fraud,” against the United States.
With that said, one of the delegates from Virginia stood up and read the Memorial, which the Norfolk Virginian summarized:
“Pursuant to the laws of Congress and the proclamation of the President, the citizens of Virginia adopted a Constitution thoroughly republican in its form, and its provisions providing, among other things, for a thorough system of free schools, etc.;
- the two clauses defeated were voted upon separately by permission of Congress and an order of the President;
- Virginia had complied with the Reconstruction laws;
- the President has already declared the Constitution acceptable to him;
- the Legislature elected under the provisions of the Constitution had organized and elected officers, and ratified the 14th and 15th Amendments;
- and elected two gentlemen as U.S. Senators against whom no objection could be urged - men whom the Legislature deemed acceptable to all;
- throughout the State, representatives to Congress had been chosen against whom no objections, ‘so far as the constitutional right was concerned,’ had been made;
- the people elected a Governor whose loyalty, truth, and honor none doubted, and who had been accepted by the President as a loyal and proper officer, and who at once gave over the State authority to him as soon as he was inaugurated.”
In closing, “having thus complied with all the terms required by either branch of the General Government, we respectfully ask Virginia to be admitted as a State of the Federal Union, and that the Senators we have chosen and the representatives whom the people have elected, be at once admitted to their respective seats in this present Congress.”
When Gen. Butler resumed his remarks, he suggested the addition of several lines to reassure the General Assembly by promising to faithfully adhere to and carry out the 1869 Constitution. If they did that and presented it at the committee hearing the next day, Gen. Butler believed Virginia could be readmitted by Friday afternoon.
“I like the constitution adopted by your people,” Gen. Butler said, “it is really, in many of its features, much better than the Constitution of Massachusetts, and vastly better than many of the Constitutions of other states now in vogue.”
The anxious delegation rushed back to the Willard Hotel and drafted the following addendum: “And furthermore, this Committee pledge themselves singly and jointly, and as the Committee representing the State Legislature, that the provisions of the State Constitution, as now adopted, shall be carried out to the very letter and spirit of its intent and law.”
They couldn’t wait for the morning meeting; the delegation returned to Gen. Butler’s home and showed him the addendum, and he appeared to be satisfied. Then, with the Committee Chair’s assumed approval in hand, Virginia’s new provisional Governor Gilbert Walker, a conservative Republican who would betray his party and run as a Conservative Democrat the next year, contacted President Grant. The same delegation had met with Grant earlier that day, and it may have been his suggestion that they get the Chair on board. Gov. Walker shared Gen. Butler’s tepid approval with the President. It was reported in Virginia newspapers that the President indicated his support and congratulated Gov. Walker on the “now sure prospect of the speedy admission of the State.”
Virginians waited with anticipation for the morning.
But, Republican legislators had also trekked to Capitol Hill to express their dismay that the test oath, which merely ensured the loyalty of former insurgents, had been removed. They clearly did not trust the ex-confederates who filled the ranks of the Conservative Party and held a majority in the General Assembly.
“The ultra radicals, as was expected, are throwing every obstacle in the way, and urging delay and the application of the test oath to the members of the Legislature,” the Alexandria Gazette complained.
The Republicans on the Committee of Reconstruction were just as split as the party.
In The House
The conservative delegation presented its Memorial to the Committee. Gov. Walker also testified and promised to protect the rights to vote and sit on juries, and said the 14th and 15th Amendments would be respected.
But Rep. Porter, a Republican, told them that “colored jurors” had been barred from courtrooms. There was “much cross-firing between the opposing radicals,” the Gazette reported.
House Committee Members remained hesitant. No decisions were made, nor would they be made before Congress recessed for the holidays. But then, upon Congress’s return, the House of Representatives admitted the state of Virginia without conditions.
The bill moved to the Senate, where many of the same concerns arose, and Virginia’s admission was further delayed.
In the Senate
Some Senate Republicans didn’t trust the Conservative majority in Virginia's legislature, which was a problem because the General Assembly would be responsible for promulgating the new Constitution. “Loyal union men” had appeared before their committees, complaining that the legislative elections in Virginia had been marred by fraud.
They also didn’t have faith in the provisional Gov. Gilbert Walker. Just a couple of months earlier, Walker beat incumbent Gen. Henry Wells (R), a civil rights advocate whom Virginia Military Commander Gen. John Scholfield had appointed. While Walker was also a Republican, he joined forces with the Conservatives to win.
Current events were also shaking republicans’ trust, in addition to the betrayal of Georgia and Tennessee, a group of lawmakers in New York and New Jersey were threatening to revoke their votes on the 15th Amendment.
The Senators argued over the test oath. Expert opinions contradicted each other - Virginia’s current Military Commander, Gen. Canby, said the test oath was necessary, but the provisional attorney general, also a republican appointed by Canby, said it wasn’t needed.
Several Republican Senators argued that the test oath wasn’t required by other states when they were readmitted. In reply, Mass. Sen. Charles Sumner (R) pointed to Louisiana, however, that state legislature, where African Americans were in the majority, implemented the test oath on its own volition. The test oath wasn’t required by Washington for the state to be admitted.
The debate over Virginia’s status was among Senate Republicans. Until, Sen. Willard Saulsbury, a Democrat from Delaware, said he was chagrined, ashamed, at the silence of his fellow Democrats, who, if held to the same standard, would lose their seats in Congress. How could the Senate treat “Virginia, the mother of States” in such a way?
“Well, Virginia should have behaved herself as a proper old lady, and not attempted to pull down the family mansion on the heads of her children and grandchildren, and made it necessary to appoint a guardian for her,” retorted Del. Sen. Morton (R).
The Conservative Memorial that tipped the House in Virginia’s favor was countered in the Senate by a Republican Memorial expressing the belief that the test oath should be required of every member of the Virginia legislature. The last election, they said, was “secured by intimidation, violence, and fraud.” And, they told Congress the majority of the Conservative Party still believed in the right to secede.
Sen. Sumner took up their cause, saying, “The election in Virginia was one huge, colossal fraud.” He read extracts of letters from unionists from across the state who said “the rebel element were oppressing the loyalists, and that the lives of union men were in danger.”
A Baltimore newspaper called Sen. Sumner and the authors of the letters “liars,” according to the Alexandria Gazette.
After weeks of rehashed arguments, the Senate approved Virginia’s Readmission Act, but it included a set of conditions. Virginia was “entitled” to admission as a state in the Union and to representation in Congress upon the following “fundamental conditions,”
- The State “shall never” amend or change its Constitution in a way that “deprives any citizen or class of citizens of the United States of the right to vote in said State who are entitled to vote - except as a punishment for being convicted of such crimes as are now felonies at common law, under laws equally applicable to all the inhabitants of said State.
- The State cannot deprive any citizen on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, of the right to hold office, nor can the state “require” any other qualification for office that doesn’t apply to everyone across the state.
- The Constitution of Virginia “shall never be so amended or changed as to deprive any citizen or class of citizens of the United States of the school rights and privileges secured by the Constitution of said State.”
Virginia was readmitted to the Union on January 26, 1870.
The Conservatives’ Refusal to Accept Hard Won Change
The Conservatives won. The state was back in the Union. Former Confederates could vote and hold office. (After readmission, Congress moved swiftly to absolve lawmakers and justices of “disabilities.”) Still, it didn’t feel like a win to them; they felt humiliated by the Senate’s conditions, which the Richmond Dispatch described as “a violation of the pledged faith of Congress.” And they really, really couldn’t get on board with allowing Black men to participate in public life.
Their first move was to launch a propaganda campaign against Judge Underwood to delegitimize him and the 1870 Constitution. Soon, every reference to the document in white newspapers bore the Judge’s name; it became the Underwood Constitution. They repeated it so often that even today, the 1870 Constitution bears his name, and when mentioned, the implied negativity is clear. All of which is crazy since that Constitution improved upon its predecessors, was much more democratic, and derived its authority from the Declaration of Independence and the voters of Virginia.
“Our textbooks taught us a dim view of that constitution,” wrote Yancy, “the document was certainly controversial because parts of it - which eventually got voted down - would have disenfranchised virtually everyone who had served the Confederacy. Here’s what we weren’t taught, though: That constitution brought democracy to Virginia.”
The framers, who believed every generation should have an opportunity to shape its own government, required voters to decide every 20 years whether to call a convention and write a new constitution.
The Underwood Constitution (reclaiming the name) was amended in two significant ways: in 1876, citizens were forced to pay a poll tax to vote, and anyone convicted of petit larceny, or petty theft, was barred from voting ever again. Lawmakers put these suffrage amendments in a package of changes that went before voters, who had to vote for them all up or down. Letters to the Editor indicate that many voters were opposed to the suffrage amendments, complained of the lawmakers' cynical move, but would have to approve them.
A few years later, the biracial Readjuster Party took control and did away with the poll tax, but failed to muster the support needed to remove petit larceny as a disqualifier. Throughout the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, the legislature expanded felonious crimes to disenfranchise Black men and to increase state coffers with profits from convict labor.
In 1888, voters decided not to call a convention. The conservatives campaigned against it because they didn’t have total control.
Once they began to regain a majority after the Readjusters short lived rise, Democrats approved election laws meant to eliminate their opponents. They authorized the General Assembly to appoint electoral boards, who in turn appointed voter registrars, election judges for each ward, and the clerks who counted the vote. Registrars were instructed to keep two lists of voters, one white and the other Black. By the 1890s, a large number of Black men and white Republicans had been disenfranchised. Democrats overwhelmingly won control of all state and federal offices.
Then, in 1896, the Supreme Court defanged the equal protection clause in Plessy v. Ferguson.
Again, in 1897, the question of calling a constitutional convention came before Virginians, and they rejected it. Conservatives were still unsure they could completely usurp the African Americans and get away with it. But then, in 1898, the Supreme Court sided unanimously with Mississippi and against the 14th and 15th Amendments in Williams vs. Mississippi. The Magnolia State’s new constitution used poll taxes, literacy tests, an “understanding clause,” and other nefarious means to bar Black citizens from the ballot and jury box. The Court found that as long as the language used to write the law was race-neutral, it was legal since the state wasn’t responsible if localities discriminated.2
Soon after, Democrats began to campaign for a new convention, telling voters they would focus on driving corruption out of state and local elections, which most knew would end up depriving African Americans of their right to vote.3
Their pitch wasn’t a slam dunk, so the Democrats did the next best thing: they fixed the outcome.
The General Assembly printed ballots with the words “For Constitutional Convention.” Each counted as a vote for the convention. If a voter wanted to vote against the call, they had to get a ballot, go to a booth, mark through the ballot, and deposit it in a box in front of an election official who had been appointed by local Democrats.
Not surprisingly, a majority of the people of Virginia voted for a new convention.
In 1901, 100 of Virginia’s wealthy and powerful white men, of whom more than a dozen fought for the Confederacy, while even more were the sons, grandsons, and nephews of Confederate soldiers, met to write Black Virginians out of the state’s constitution.4
The constitution they framed complicated voter registration and empowered registrars, reimposed a poll tax, and a controversial “understanding clause,” that promised to keep the vote not just from Black men but also some white men.
John Mitchell, Jr., Editor of the Black-owned newspaper, The Richmond Planet didn’t hold back in his scathing criticism, writing, “Although the negro haters [sic] were in possession of the ballot boxes, which were tenderly doctored to their own self-satisfaction, they wanted a law disfranchising the colored brother out-right and again the Supreme Court of the United States gave the wink and the tricksters proceeded to work, and after laboring nearly a year and doing the white people of the state more injury than they did the negro, they brought forth an unconstitutional constitution which does exactly what the Constitution of the United States says it shall not do.”
They knew they wouldn’t get Black citizens to approve the constitution, and the collateral damage for some white voters made it even more unlikely they would succeed at the ballot box. Since taking it to the voters was a no-go, the delegates decided to proclaim it into existence.
On May 29, 1902, with a vote of 47 to 38, the new constitution was ordained by the delegates who wrote it and determined to go into effect on July 10, 1902.
Mitchell called them out - calling the proclamation “of the unconstitutional Convention” a “revolutionary” move.
“Admitting that the Constitutional Convention is illegal, conceding that the Constitution is unlawful, declaring that the act of proclaiming the instrument is revolutionary, the next question is, what are we going to do about it?... The men who have usurped the power of the people can only be overthrown by the people whom they have betrayed. That such an overthrow would be accompanied by disaster and followed by bloodshed admits of no question. This is why we ‘bear the ills we have rather than rush to those we know not of.’ The situation is grave and the remedy serious,” Mitchell wrote.
For their scheme to work, the constitution needed to be validated with a vote of the General Assembly in July, followed by each member of the legislature, the judiciary, and the Governor taking an oath to support it.
Alexandria’s Del. Jas. Caton, although a conservative, fought back because he believed they needed a popular vote to ratify and legitimize the proposed constitution. He tried and failed to get his colleagues to reconsider.
On July 15, 1902, the General Assembly formally recognized the new constitution of the state.
The elected leaders and judges could either take the oath to support the new constitution or vacate their offices. Republicans filed protests, but in the end, almost all of the members of the General Assembly took the oath. Dr. McLean of Mecklenburg County refused and lost his seat, according to the Richmond Planet.
After the Constitution was enacted, Mitchell called for agitation. “Peace is all right, but the privileges which we now enjoy were not obtained through that agency. Don’t let us forget that,” he said, urging Black Virginians to register to vote for the Congressional elections in November.
Before the Constitution was imposed, in 1901, 147,000 Black Virginians voted. As many as 15,000 continued to vote in 1902, and by 1905, just 10,000 were able to vote. Numerous lawsuits were filed, most of which were dismissed by the courts whose judges swore an oath to the illegal constitution.
On June 18, 1903, the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the validity of the 1902 Constitution in Taylor vs. Commonwealth, writing:
The Constitution of 1902 was ordained and proclaimed by a convention duly called by direct vote of the people of the State to revise and amend the Constitution of 1869. The result of the work of that convention has been recognized, accepted, and acted upon as the only valid Constitution of the State by the Governor in swearing fidelity to it and proclaiming it, as directed thereby; by the Legislature in its formal official act adopting a joint resolution, July 15, 1902, recognizing the Constitution ordained by the convention which assembled in the city of Richmond on the 12th day of June, 1901, as the Constitution of Virginia; by the individual oaths of its members to support it, and by its having been engaged for nearly a year in legislating under it and putting its provisions into operation; by the judiciary in taking the oath prescribed thereby to support it, and by enforcing its provisions; and by the people in their primary capacity by peacefully accepting it and acquiescing in it, by registering as voters under it to the extent of thousands throughout the State, and by voting, under its provisions, at a general election for their representatives in the Congress of the United States.
The Constitution having been thus acknowledged and accepted by the officers administering the government and by the people of the State, and being, as a matter of fact, in force throughout the State, and there being no government in existence under the Constitution of 1869 opposing or denying its validity, we have no difficulty in holding that the Constitution in question, which went into effect at noon on the 10th day of July, 1902, is the only rightful, valid, and existing Constitution of this State, and that to it all the citizens of Virginia owe their obedience and loyal allegiance.
It remained in place until 1971.
Resurrection In The Courts
The Military Reconstruction Act made it clear that Virginia was not to disenfranchise anyone except rebel insurrectionists and common-law felons. The U.S. Senate and Congress specifically reiterated this in the Virginia Readmission Act, as did the Underwood Constitution of 1870. Yet, as early as the mid-1870s, Virginia lawmakers violated the law by making petty theft a felony and by adding the poll tax to take the vote from Black men. The 1902 Constitution effectively disenfranchised African American citizens through various means, including expanding the convict loophole. The 1971 Constitution, which replaced it and still governs Virginia, was written to bring the state into compliance with the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act. It explicitly forbids discrimination based on race, gender, or national origin, but it also disenfranchises anyone convicted of a felony - any felony. 5
Virginia continues to be subject to all of the requirements of the Virginia Readmission Act and cannot take away someone’s vote unless they are convicted of a crime that was considered a common law felony in 1870. Since the state continues to exclude all felons from the ballot box, Virginia continues to violate the Readmission Act.
“Virginia’s government has blatantly broken the law for more than a century by disenfranchising everyone with a felony conviction - a violation that has disproportionately affected Black and Brown Virginians,” ACLU-VA Senior Supervising Attorney Vishal Agraharkar told Courthouse News.
Although Black Virginians make up less than 20 percent of the voting age population, they account for nearly half of all Virginians who can’t vote because they have been convicted of a felony.
Virginia is one of three states that revoke voting rights from those with a felony conviction, but it is the only state that requires felons to ask the Governor to restore their right to vote. Republican Gov. Robert McDonnell didn’t agree with this process and issued an Executive Order that automated restoration. His successors followed his lead, but Gov. Glen Younkin didn’t. He reverted to the old ways and provided no obvious process or channel for former felons to regain their right to vote in violation of the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. These actions have resulted in the disenfranchisement of at least 312,540 people.
Alexandria resident, Tati Abu King, 52, was convicted of drug possession in 2018 and has not been able to vote since. (Possession of a controlled substance was not a felony in 1870.) After spending 11 months in prison and completing probation, King applied to have his right to vote restored. He is still waiting. King is one of a number of plaintiffs who brought the class action suit against the state for adhering to a constitution that violates the Readmission Act of 1870 in the hope of restoring the vote of anyone convicted of a crime that became a felony after 1870.
Judge Gibney’s decision in favor of King and the others isn’t likely to be challenged by the newly elected Attorney General Jay Jones. In November 2026, voters will have a chance to weigh in on a Constitutional Amendment that would bring Virginia into compliance with the Readmission Act and the U.S. Constitution regarding the restoration of voting rights for felons.
The amendment simply and automatically restores the right to vote for all citizens not incarcerated. There would no longer be a need for a former felon to apply to the Governor for restoration.
Had Virginians had a better grasp of our shared past, we may have found a way to right this wrong much sooner.
In Conclusion
The more we dive into our shared past, the more it appears things haven’t changed much. Maybe that’s because the same culture continues to dominate across the United States, and it has control over what the majority of Americans learn about in history class. It isn’t a mistake that so little is widely known about the Reconstruction era, this nation’s Second Founding, that brought meaning and reality to the words of the Declaration of Independence.
President Grant, when proclaiming the adoption of the 15th Amendment, on March 30, 1870, said it “completes the greatest civil change and constitutes the most important event that has occurred since the nation came to life.”
But, he didn’t leave it there, he added this warning, “the change will be beneficial in proportion to the heed that is given to the urgent recommendations of Washington.” He called on Congress to do everything within its power to encourage each community to make education available so that “all who possess and exercise political rights shall have the opportunity to acquire the knowledge which will make their share in the Government a blessing and not a danger. By such means only can the benefits contemplated by this agreement to the Constitution be secured.”
End Notes:
1 The effective date of this Constitution is in dispute. Virginia voters approved it in 1869, but Reconstruction rules required Congressional approval, which came in 1870. Because of that, the Constitution is referred to as both the 1869 and the 1870 Constitution. For this article, I chose 1870 because it was not official until the state was readmitted; up until that point, it could have been sent back to the state to revise.
2 Henry Williams, an African American, challenged his murder conviction by an all-white jury. He argued the laws keeping Black citizens from registering to vote (and from jury duty) were discriminatory.
3 During the 1890s, Democrats were infighting, and a Popular movement was on the rise. Democrats began using the same corrupt election tactics they once used against Republicans against each other. The corruption needed to stop before the party lost power. Democrats began to campaign for a new convention and argued that voters should support a convention that would “deprive African Americans of the suffrage” to “eliminate Democrats’ need to cheat to win,” according to Encyclopedia Virginia.
4 Staunton Del. Allen Cuperton Braxton, wrote to lawyers, legislators and judges from other states who had participated in “disenfranchisement conventions” to ask them for ideas and advice to eliminate Black men from Virginia’s rolls.
5 Common Law felonies in 1870 included murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, arson, burglary, and larceny and mayhem.
Unlinked Sources:
Alexandria Gazette, Dec. 8, 1869, p.3
Norfolk Virginian, Dec. 11, 1869 p. 1. col. 1
Alexandria Gazette, Dec. 9, 1869, p. 3
Alexandria Gazette, Dec. 10, 1869, p. 3
Alexandria Gazette. Jan. 21, 1870
Richmond Dispatch, Jan. 25, 1870
In The News
It is the 100th Anniversary of Black History Month, started by Carter G. Woodson, first as Negro History Week [sic] that then grew into a month, in an effort to share with the world the contributions Black Americans have made to this nation. The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) was founded by Woodson to carry out his annual mission to focus the American public on our documented history in an attempt to transform our culture. W.E.B Du Bois said Carter “literally made this country recognize and celebrate each year a week in which it studied the effect which the American Negro has had upon the life, thought, and action in the United States. I know of no other man who in a lifetime has unaided built up such a national celebration.”
ASALH has a number of events and celebrations planned in February, and most are in the DMV. Information on OHA tours and events can be found in the Upcoming Events section of this newsletter, including how to register for a series of adult field trips focused on Alexandria’s African American community that start at the Freedom House Museum on February 20, 2026.
Upcoming Events
Tables of Conscience
Tables of Conscience book-themed dinners, held in the homes of ACRP Members, are an opportunity to have in-depth discussions on important issues with others who care deeply about equality and social justice. The entire $125 donation goes to this year’s Memorial Scholarships in the names of Alexandria’s two known lynching victims, Joseph McCoy (1897) and Benjamin Thomas (1899). To attend one of these dinners Reserve a space here for free, then pay $125 per ticket by donating on our campaign page with the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria. (The book is not included in the ticket price. Please purchase at a local bookstore when possible.)
Crusade for Justice by Ida B. Wells
Saturday, March 7
6-9 p.m.
7 Seats Available
Reserve a space.
Donate $125 per ticket on our campaign page.
Ida B. Wells' autobiography inspires readers to stand up and speak up for justice. Her pros are not antiquated; on the contrary, they are clear, concise, and direct. This book provides an intimate insight into the perspective of a woman born into slavery, who grew up watching Black people become citizens, write state constitutions, and serve in legislatures, only to then see their positions and rights taken away. Her parents died when she was young, and she taught school while taking care of her younger siblings. She began writing for the church newspaper and discovered her talent for reporting. She soon became the voice of her generation; she was as much a civil rights crusader as those who came after her.
2025-26 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Poster Exhibition
Sunday, February 1- Sunday, March 1
Charles Houston Recreation Center, 901 Wythe Street
The Office of Historic Alexandria’s annual student poster exhibit for public school kids in grades 2-5 will be hosted by the Charles Houston Recreation Center this year. The theme is Dreaming Together: Learning from the Past, Shaping the Future and ties into the Declaration of Independence that is celebrating a 250th birthday this year.
Washington Revels Jubilee Voices Concert
February 8, 2026
3 p.m.
Alexandria History Museum at The Lyceum, 201 S. Washington Street, Alexandria
Reserve Free tickets.
Join Washington Revels Jubilee Voices and the Office of Historic Alexandria for a concert celebrating African American music, history, and culture in a concert exploring the themes of freedom, resilience, and joy, from the Civil War through the present day. Enjoy traditional African American spirituals, poetry, dance, ring shouts, banjo tunes, stories, and audience participation. The event is free, but space is limited! Please reserve your space here.
Lost Buildings of Alexandria-The Berg & Parker-Gray
Saturday, February 7
10 a.m.
Carlyle House Historic Park, 121 N. Fairfax Street
$20 per person
Purchase tickets.
Explore parts of the historic Black neighborhoods of The Berg & Parker-Gray, as part of the Carlyle House and Lee-Fendall House’s “Lost Alexandria” tours. The tour begins at Lee-Fendall House, 614 Oronoco St. and includes walking over many city blocks. It will be held rain or shine, but will be cancelled for extreme weather.
February 20: Lives and Legacies at the Freedom House Museum
Feb. 20
6:30
Freedom House Museum, 1315 Duke Street, Alexandria
Buy Tickets $15
For the 100th anniversary of Black History Month, take the first of four field trips for adults highlighting African American history around Alexandria. Explore objects and primary sources, dive into conversations, and be ready to be hands-on as you learn more about Alexandria and American history.
February 28: Fight for the Right to Read Program
Feb. 28
11 a.m.
Alexandria Black History Museum, 902 Wythe Street
Free
Join authors Jeff Gottesfeld and Michelle Y. Green along with illustrator and Howard University graduate Kim Holt, for a family program that highlights their new book; Fight for the Right to Read: Samuel Wilbert Tucker and the 1939 Sit-Down Strike for Library Reading Equality.
Upcoming Committee Meetings
The Committee of Inquiry’s research team will meet on February 9 and March 9, 2026, at 7 p.m. at the Alexandria Black History Museum.
The Steering Committee will meet on March 11, 2026, at 5:30 at the Alexandria Black History Museum.
Committee Reports
The Steering Committee met for a planning retreat on January 9, 2026 where it was decided to continue working on current projects through 2026. ACRP intends to hold another Banned Truth Tour for Remembrance Students in the fall.
Alexandria Community Remembrance Project
The Alexandria Community Remembrance Project (ACRP) is a city-wide initiative dedicated to helping Alexandria understand its history of racial terror hate crimes and to work toward creating a welcoming community bound by equity and inclusion.
In Memoriam
Write "ACRP" in Comments on the donation form.
Office of Historic Alexandria
City of Alexandria, Virginia
ACRP@alexandriava.gov