Separate but equal policy to 1939Voting restrictions
Despite emancipation during the Civil War, black Americans continued to face prejudice. Many states introduced legislation - known as Jim Crow laws - that segregated black from white Americans.
A tax had to be paid in order to be able to vote, and most black people were too poor to pay the tax.
Literacy tests
In order to be able to vote, people had to prove that they could read difficult extracts. However, if black people passed these tests, they would then be threatened and attacked so that they would not vote anyway.
The video below looks at American controls on voting rights from the 1870s.
American controls of voting rights
White people believed that the Jim Crow laws made races 鈥榮eparate but equal鈥. However, this was disputed by most black people.
They agreed that the laws kept the races apart but that facilities were overwhelmingly unequal.