African-American men granted the right to vote in District of Columbia 150 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Jan 8 1867)

(Tuesday, January 8, 1867; during the Reconstruction Era) — The U.S. House of Representatives joined the Senate today in overriding President Andrew Johnson’s veto of the District of Columbia Suffrage Bill, giving African-American men in the nation’s capital the right to vote.

It was the first law in U.S. history that extended the ballot to African-American men.