In the 1800’s, slavery was a crucial dispute in the United States. It was the hopes and dreams of many that the Civil War would completely abolish slavery. Even though slavery was made illegal in 1865 after the Civil War ended, African Americans did not acquire freedom during the era of Reconstruction. African Americans did not attain independence partially because of disenfranchisement. For example, it was obligatory to pay a poll tax if they had the desire to register to vote. In innumerable cases, the tax was not affordable for African Americans anyhow. Additionally, African Americans would have had to take a literacy test. This discriminatory examination was made to purposely fail African Americans, generating the idea that they couldn’t vote. According to document J, “she had to take a literacy test and pay a poll tax of $1.50, a sum worth about $25 today.” Lastly, the Grandfather Clause exempted voters from those registrations if their grandfathers had voted, undoubtedly eradicating blacks. Disenfranchisement during the era of Reconstruction was one considerable justification why African Americans …show more content…
Created in 1866, former Confederate soldiers promoted a racist arrangement that used violence to impose rule, calling it Ku Klux Klan, or KKK for short. In document K, it stated, “At least 10 percent of the black legislators elected during the 1867-1868 constitutional conventions became victims of violence during Reconstruction, including seven who were killed.” Supremacists in hooded, white robes went in compact groups during the nighttime and persecuted African Americans, white republicans, and even teachers in African American schools. Also from document K, “500 masked men attacked the Union county jail and lynched eight black prisoners.” Terror was the key for the Ku Klux Klan, and this terror impacted African Americans and their acquisition of