The 15th amendment to the constitution gave black men the same voting rights as white men, and since it was the republicans which freed the slaves, most black men registered as Republicans. Democrats in the south knew that if all the registered black men were to vote, then they would not be able to "redeem" the south or re-elect Democrats to all the major offices. So fearing defeat, the democrats used violence and intimidation to keep black voters away from the polls during important elections. In 1875, the Mississippi Plan overtly used violence to secure democrats in office. It is estimated that over 60,000 Republicans were kept from voting. Those who saw black voters as a threat only added to the already racist environment in the South and spread the idea that blacks were inferior and not to be given the same rights as other white men. In 1866 Nathan Bedford Forest founded the KKK, a militant white supremacy organization, which along with the Knights of the White Camellia, intimidated blacks from voting and exercising their liberties, as well as threatening violence to any black who tried to infringe on the superiority of whites. Racial violence and segregation increased during this time and in the election of 1876, violence prevented 125,000 votes, and the South came back under Democratic control. .
Racism continued in the 1870's with the implementation of the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws segregated the black and white communities, allowing for racist legislation which targeted only black areas of the city. By 1885, most states had separate schools which catered to the black and white communities of the south. These segregationist laws were even validated by the Supreme Court in 1896 with the Plessy vs. Ferguson case which decided separate was allowed as long as the facilities were equal. Reality, however, was that the schools and facilities provided for blacks were anything but equal and were often run down and in serious need of improvement.
