The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
This amendment guarantees the right of citizens of the United States to vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition of slavery. But it was not really until the Voting Rights Act in 1965 that this guarantee was actually achieved in all states.
The first person to vote under the provisions of the amendment was Thomas Mundy Peterson.
