January 8, 1867 in Washington, D.C.

My wife got me a new desk calendar, with daily entries from history. The entry for January 8th caught my attention.

African American men got the right to vote in Washington, D.C.

So, of course, I had to Google that.

African American men in D.C.—with some exceptions, including those on welfare—gained the right to vote three years before the Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed that right for all American men, regardless of race. As citizens of D.C., however, they did not gain the right to vote in federal elections until 1961. Today, the nation’s capital stands on equal footing with the states in the Electoral College, but its congressional representation remains limited to a single, non-voting member of the House of Representatives. Many official license plates in the district carry the phrase “Taxation without representation,” a nod to the irony that the capital of the United States has roughly the amount of influence in the legislative process as it did before the Revolutionary War.

History.com

What Would that Look Like Astrologically?

I set the clock for this event at the beginning of the business day. I wasn’t surprised by the resulting chart. The Moon in Aquarius is conjunct the event Ascendant. How fitting.

There are three inconjuncts, two of which form a Yod, pointing at Uranus.

Venus Inconjunct Pluto

With this aspect you don’t have to put up with difficult or unpleasant relationships, because if you think about it, you will realize that you are drawn to these people in order to fulfill your own hidden emotional needs. Think about what you really want from others so that you can find it in a better relationship. And if you encounter people who won’t allow you any freedom, which can happen with this aspect, then avoid them.

Jupiter Inconjunct Uranus

You will always need freedom, but you will also discover that what you do with your life will have meaning only if it means something to others. This is not an artificial rule but a truth that you will discover within yourself. When you do, you may become heavily involved in some social movement that advocates unusual ideas or ways of thinking.

Uranus Inconjunct Midheaven

You need to express your thoughts and feelings, but you often upset the people around you with your words. You seem to enjoy creating a stir every time you say something, but this can get you into quite a bit of trouble with authority figures. The underlying principle of this aspect is the need to balance your individual self-expression and manner of communicating with your need to learn and grow under the guidance of older people.

Certainly you will discover your own routes to what you want in life. Now you need to be given the confidence and encouragement to look for these routes on your own with total freedom.

(So the overarching message is one of Freedom: no surprises, then.)

As an experiment, I compared this event chart with the birth chart of the United States of America, and then with the birth chart of Sidney Poitier. I knew they would be connected, so just for fun, here is the triple comparison:

The USA’s Jupiter is conjunct this event’s Uranus and Poitier’s North Node @ 4°-6° Cancer. Hmm. And the USA’s Ascendant is conjunct this event’s Venus @ 12° Sagittarius, and within 5° of Poitier’s Saturn.