Final answer:
The gains in education, voting, and equality achieved during Reconstruction were reversed through the enactment of discriminatory laws like literacy tests, poll taxes, and Jim Crow laws, along with white supremacist violence, which were facilitated by the federal government's withdrawal of support.
Step-by-step explanation:
The end of Reconstruction led to a reversal of the gains made in education, voting, and equality for African Americans. After the federal government withdrew its support and protection, Southern states, under the control of conservative white Democrats, enacted new state Constitutions employing mechanisms such as literacy tests and poll taxes to disenfranchise black voters. Enforcement of these policies along with the implementation of Jim Crow laws, which mandated segregation in public spaces, compounded the regression of civil rights.
White supremacist values and violence also played significant roles in reversing the progress made during Reconstruction. This included the emergence of paramilitary groups like the Ku Klux Klan who used terror to discourage African Americans from exercising their new rights. The federal government's reticence to intervene, exacerbated by economic challenges like the Panic of 1873, which shifted political priorities, further facilitated the disenfranchisement and segregation of African Americans.
It wasn’t until the civil rights movement of the 1960s, often referred to as the Second Reconstruction, that the federal government effectively challenged and struck down the segregation and disenfranchisement laws. The legacy of this period underscores a continued struggle for equality and the importance of federal protection and enforcement in securing civil rights.