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The Fifteenth Amendment
A letter from April 1870, written by Samuel May to Richard Davis Webb, mentioning Boston’s celebration of the Fifteenth Amendment.

A letter from April 1870, written by Samuel May to Richard Davis Webb, mentioning Boston’s celebration of the Fifteenth Amendment.

Samuel May was a white abolitionist and minister from Massachusetts. He worked closely with William Lloyd Garrison and his circle of abolitionists and as an agent of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society for many years. May’s cousin, Samuel J. May, and Wendell Phillips were also Garrisonian abolitionists. Richard Davis Webb was an Irish journalist and abolitionist.

Transcript:

27 Hollis St. Boston, April 14. [[object Object]]

Dear friend Webb,

I am indeed delinquent in my correspondence, not with you alone, but (I fear) many - certainly, some others. And, even now, I have not the time to explain or apologize, -- of which you will doubtless be glad! To-day the citizens of Boston are celebrating the adoption of the “Fifteenth Amendment” ~ all the colored people of the city + of many neighboring towns also, and a good sprinkling of white folk beside; the day is warm + bright, + all is auspicious. At 3 o’clock. Faneuil Hall will be well filled, maybe packed, + Garrison, + Phillips, + numbers of others, are to speak. S. J. May and I, in this family, are honored with tickets of invitation to platform; and as it is now past 2 o’clock, you will perceive I have small time for writing. But I have no sinister motive in so long a silence, as I’m sure you’ll believe.

We are very sorry to have Deborah leave the country without coming to Boston, or Leicester, again. We comfort ourselves a little with sending you a few books now, and hoping that both you and she will, before long, visit America again.

I had a short note from Mary Erthin[[object Object]] yesterday, ~ written with her left hand. She said she had sent to you, some weeks time, a letter I had written to her, concerning Mrs. Robbins’s death mainly, + my father’s illness; -- and, before I had finished which, my dear father himself joined the great company of the departed. -- I was glad she sent it to you; for I quite had you in mind, all the while I was writing it. Now I must say goodbye; -- & with sincere regard

For you always

S. May

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Citation Information
May, Samuel, “[Letter to] Dear friend Webb [manuscript],” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/012b92bc660c995de0b048ffec6688ca.
Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.
Courtesy of Boston Public Library via Internet Archive.

Tips for Students

For this source, consider:

  • the author's point of view
  • the author's purpose
  • historical context
  • audience

Item 8 of 15 in the Primary Source Set The Fifteenth Amendment

Previous ItemNext Item
The joint resolution of the United States Congress proposing the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, December 7, 1868.
A resolution by the Georgia state legislature to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment, February 2, 1870.
An 1870 print depicting the celebration of the Fifteenth Amendment as well as vignettes that represent the significance of the amendment.
An 1870 print depicting the celebration of the Fifteenth Amendment as well as vignettes that represent the significance of the amendment.
Lyrics for “The Fifteenth Amendment” by African American songwriter Joshua McCarter Simpson.
An excerpt from a speech by Henry McNeal Turner in Macon, Georgia on April 19, 1870 regarding the benefits of the Fifteenth Amendment.
A portrait of Henry McNeal Turner, Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, ca.1880s.
A letter from April 1870, written by Samuel May to Richard Davis Webb, mentioning Boston’s celebration of the Fifteenth Amendment.
A portrait of Octavius Catto, an African American activist, educator, and political organizer, ca.1871.
An excerpt from a pamphlet called The Trial of Frank Kelly For The Assassination and Murder of Octavius V. Catto, on October 10, 1871.
An 1869 broadside in response to the proposed Fifteenth Amendment, titled “Republicans! Democrats! A Word with you about Negro Suffrage.”
A print depicting the first African American senator and representatives, who served in the Forty-First and Forty-Second Congresses, 1872.
An excerpt from a 1905 essay by A. H. Grimké called “The Meaning and Need of the Movement to Reduce Southern Representation.”
Robert S. Anderson’s poll tax receipt, Memphis, Tennessee, April 25, 1940.
An article titled “Free the Ballot,” about voting rights during the civil rights movement, from Memphis World newspaper, February 13, 1960.

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