Even after the liberation of slaves, blacks were still treated as less than equal.Voting was a big issue in this time period. There was literary test and the grandfather clause to stop blacks from voting. The literary test prevented blacks from voting because many didn't know how to read. The grandfather clause stated that if your grandfather was a slave, then you couldn't vote. There was Jim Crow laws created to stop blacks from living a normal life. Blacks and whites weren't able to be together in anyway; they couldn't sit together not be seen together. If a black man shake hands with a white male, it would be seen as bad because it states that they are equal. Whites were always right; blacks would just have to believe in the white folks words.
http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/what.htm
