1) Race relations after the CW
The first effort to reform the south after the war began with the reconstruction period. This period began in 1865 when the 13th amendment was passed permanently abolishing slavery. Right behind that was the 14th and 15th amendment which guaranteed legal equality to all people and gave suffrage to black men. Not only could they vote but were then allowed to run for office and be elected to political seats. What ended the reconstruction period was the compromise of 1877. In order to settle the contested 1876 election, an informal deal was struck. Democrat Samuel J. Tilden led Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in popular votes, and 203-165 in the electoral college, but fraud and violence in South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana, and questions about an Oregon elector's eligibility, left 20 electoral votes in doubt. Representatives of the candidates and parties then negotiated the compromise of1877. The South would accept Hayes's election, back Republican James A. Garfield for House Speaker, and protect black rights; Republicans would provide federal aid for internal improvements, patronage, and, especially, home rule. But Garfield was defeated for Speaker, the government failed to subsidize improvements, and Hayes dispensed patronage and followed existing policy by removing federal troops from the South. The final southern Republican governments, all in the disputed states, collapsed, leading to a Democratic Solid South, violence and discrimination toward blacks. This effectively ended Reconstruction, and Republican political control of Southern states.
After the reconstruction period was the age of segregation, which was between 1877-1920. This was an age of white supremacy full of violence, lynching, and torture. Despite numerous witnesses, there was no conviction or trial of brutal white murderers. This age endorsed violence, murder, and intimidation of the black community to create fear. Southern whites wanted to...