Question

Which methods did whites use to keep blacks from exercising their rights during Reconstruction? (Choose all answers that are correct.)

A) They fought with U.S. troops sent south to enforce Reconstruction
B) They formed the Redeemers, a group that rigged election results
C) They segregated public housing and transportation
D) They hunted down and lynched innocent blacks without a trial

Answer 1

Whites used violence, including lynching and assault, and political maneuvers such as fraud, gerrymandering, and the formation of groups like the Redeemers, to suppress African American rights during Reconstruction.

Step-by-step explanation:

During the Reconstruction period, whites used several methods to prevent African Americans from exercising their rights. One primary method was violence; white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan engaged in the lynching of black individuals without a trial, as well as beatings and shootings. In the realm of politics, individuals known as the Redeemers endeavored to roll back the gains of Reconstruction by leveraging economic power and resorting to trickery, fraud, and violence to maintain control of state governments. Various forms of disenfranchisement, including property qualification laws, gerrymandering, and fraud, were employed to suppress the black vote. In addition, new state constitutions and laws were passed that effectively disfranchised African Americans through literacy tests and poll taxes, and legislation known as Jim Crow laws rigidly enforced segregation in public spaces.