What was the long-term pattern for civil rights in the South after Reconstruction ended?

• A. Diminished federal protections and reestablished segregation (Jim Crow)
• B. Immediate nationwide civil rights expansion
• C. No change from Reconstruction
• D. Universal suffrage across the South

Answer: (A)

When Reconstruction ends, federal protection for Black civil rights contracts sharply. The Compromise of 1877 leads to the withdrawal of federal troops from the South, letting white Southern leaders regain control and set the terms for race relations. States move quickly to reestablish racial hierarchy through Jim Crow laws that mandate segregation and through tactics that disenfranchise Black voters, such as poll taxes and literacy tests. Legally, the pattern is reinforced by the Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which upholds “separate but equal” facilities and legitimizes segregation. The result is a long era in which federal protections recede and racial segregation becomes the norm in public life, lasting for decades until mid-20th-century civil rights advances begin to overturn it.