Answer:
The federal government had no response because it had pulled troops out of the South in 1877, leaving African Americans unprotected.
Step-by-step explanation:
During the reconstruction period, a lack of political attention on the effort failed to heal the racial wounds, and the denial of the freed slaves' civil rights failed to achieve long-term racial integration. The rise of white supremacy organizations like Klu Klux Klan and others, in conjunction with the Black Codes, began to threaten freed slaves and to repress their civil liberties.