January 13, 1868

At the 1868 constitutional convention, William Henry Grey rose in response to a Conservative measure that would have reinstated the Constitution of 1864, thus depriving African Americans of the right to vote. He proclaimed that Black Arkansans had earned citizenship by “right-of-purchase on the numerous battle-fields of our country.” The convention voted 53-10 against the Conservative measure. Grey also spoke against measures forbidding interracial marriage and in favor of issues beneficial to the freedmen.