Loopholes around African American Rights

Civil rights granted to African Americans were subverted and hindered. Black codes issued special regulations that limited right to own property, engagement in occupations other than laborer or servant, and segregation of races in public areas. These policies also known as Jim Crow laws were violations of the Civil Rights Act in 1866. Although Republican governments passed civil rights act in support of African Americans, little effort was made to enforce its legislation. Thousands of black were murdered by whites in 1865-1866 (America Past and Present:  Chapter 16 pg. 216) and only few were brought to justice. The right for African American or black suffrage stirred greater tension amongst the whites. Feared that blacks would gain equal power, the whites organized mobs to keep black from voting. To limit an individual’s right to vote, a literacy test was issued. If he could not read he could not vote. Other methods issued to limit voting were poll taxes, property qualifications, or grandfather clause which meant, if an individual’s grandfather was a slave, that individual could not vote. These policies created difficulties against African Americans following their rights granted that were supposedly guaranteed the equal rights of men.