Seventy-eight Whites and sixteen Blacks were elected as delegates to the 1868 Constitutional Convention. Mississippi, like other Confederate states, had to adopt a new state constitution with Black male suffrage in order to rejoin the Union. After initially being rejected by voters, a new constitution was enacted in 1869, and the state was readmitted to the Union in 1870.
Pictured: A black and gray illustration. On the top left is the Goddess of Justice. At top center is Jesus with the phrase “Do To Others As You Have Others Do To You,” and at top right is the Goddess of Liberty. Members of Congress are in between each figure. The left side of the image depicts the Confederacy, working to rebuild and rejoin the union. The right side depicts the Union. In the center, a dome is being built as a symbol of the reformation of the United States.
Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-pga-01366
