On this day in 1868, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was officially adopted, affirming that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States... are citizens of the United States and of the state in which they reside.”

With this change, all African Americans became recognized citizens with full civil rights.

“Freedom,” explained writer Charles Peguy, “is a system based on courage.”

Passed during Reconstruction, this “Civil Rights of Citizens” amendment required Southern states to ratify it before rejoining the Union. While it did not eliminate segregation or discrimination, the Amendment paved the way for future civil rights progress and a continued quest for true equality.

As Martin Luther King, Jr. expressed a century later, “Life's piano can only produce melodies of brotherhood (and sisterhood) when it is recognized that the black keys are as basic, necessary, and beautiful as the white keys.”

Let us continue to listen for that melody—
a harmony woven from every voice,
every key,
every dream that dares to survive.