Slavery was abolished in 1865 when the 13th amendment was passed. Many people living in the south were outraged at this decision and continued to treat African Americans unfairly and with little-to-no respect. They would be kept from many civil rights, such as voting.
Then, two amendments, the 14th and 15th, were passed in 1868 and 1870. The 14th amendment declared the prohibition of disturbing the civil rights of citizens, and the 15th declared that one could not deny a citizen's right to vote. However, many whites would find a way around these laws. About 6 years later, in 1876, many southern whites started to enact Jim Crow Laws, which were laws that enforced racial segregation and, seemingly on purpose, gave whites the upper hand in every day life. A good example of this can be found in the "U.S. v. Reese" case, which occurred the same year: 1876. It stated that while citizens could not be kept from voting because of race, color, or previous conditions of servitude, they could be kept from voting because of a failure to pass a literacy test or poll tax. African Americans would have to pass literacy tests and pay poll taxes in order to vote, and many of them would not pass these tests or be able to afford the tax. While this was already an awful scenario for African Americans, there was still more to come. |