Bill > AR122

Introduced Session

This bill honors the life and legacy of Thomas Mundy Peterson for being the first African American to vote in the United States following the ratification of the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which stipulates that any citizen has the right to vote, regardless of their race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Born in Metuchen, New Jersey on October 6, 1824 to a formerly enslaved mother and a free father, Thomas Mundy Peterson later moved to Perth Amboy, New Jersey, where at the age of 45, he became the first African American to vote after the ratification of the 15th Amendment. On March 31, 1870, Peterson bravely voted in Perth Amboy in an election to revise the city's charter. Although Peterson was encouraged to vote by his boss, abolitionists, and social reformers, he reported that one white man tore up his ballot in anger at seeing an African American man vote. New Jersey was slow to adopt Reconstruction Era amendments, being the last northern state to abolish slavery. After three-quarters of the nation ratified the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, New Jersey followed suit in 1866 and, later that year, ratified the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship and ensures equal protection under the law, only to rescind that ratification in 1868. Almost one year after Peterson's historic vote, New Jersey finally ratified the 15th Amendment on February 21, 1871. After his pioneering vote, Peterson was appointed as a member of a committee of seven to revise certain portions of the Perth Amboy City Charter. He also continued to vote in every election he could for the rest of his life. Peterson continued his civic engagement as a delegate for the Middlesex County Republican Convention and later as a delegate in the New Jersey gubernatorial convention of the Prohibition Party, believing temperance was a critical issue. He also became the first African American to serve on a jury in Perth Amboy. Following confirmation by a bipartisan committee that Peterson was the first African American to vote after ratification of the 15th Amendment, the people of Perth Amboy raised money to create a gold medallion commemorating Peterson's historic vote. On May 30, 1884 the people of Perth Amboy presented him with the medallion bearing his name, the engraved face of Abraham Lincoln on one side, and, on the other side, the inscription "Presented by Citizens of Perth Amboy, N.J. to THOMAS PETERSON, The First Colored Voter in the U.S. Under the Provisions of the 15th Amendment, at an Election Held in that City, March 31, 1870." Peterson proudly wore his medallion and was said to have never considered himself properly dressed without it.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Craig Coughlin (D)*,  Robert Karabinchak (D)*,  Yvonne Lopez (D)*,  Mitchelle Drulis (D),  Dawn Fantasia (R),  Roy Freiman (D),  Paul Kanitra (R),  Gerry Scharfenberger (R),  Shanique Speight (D), 

Reported out of Assembly Committee, 2nd Reading (on 02/19/2026)

Official Document