Answer:
Through African Americans were emancipated in 1865, they were disenfranchised by the 15th Amendment and forced to pay poll taxes in order to vote. It was only after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that the political system opened up for African Americans.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the last years of the US Civil War and subsequent years of Reconstruction, Congress repeatedly discussed the issue of rights for millions of former black slaves. By 1869, amendments were adopted to abolish slavery and ensure civil rights and equal protection in accordance with the law, but the victory with only a slight margin by Ulysses Grant in the presidential election in 1868 convinced most Republicans that protecting the voting rights of black voters is very important for the future party. After refusing to accept an expanded version of the suffrage amendment, Congress proposed a compromise amendment prohibiting restrictions on voting rights based on race, color, or slavery in the past, February 26, 1869.
The United States Supreme Court decisions in the late 19th century interpreted the amendment very narrowly. From 1890 to 1910, the majority of black voters in the South were virtually disempowered due to new constitutions and laws that included obstacles to running in elections, such as poll taxes and discriminatory literacy tests.
In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was adopted as a new radical measure, according to which the use of special checks (tests) that weed out voters could be suspended in any state if, in the court’s opinion, they could limit citizens’ voting rights on the basis of race or color. This Act is fundamental in the history of federal legislation in the field of protection of the electoral rights of citizens.