Positives

• 1. After Civil War, 700,000 black males registered to vote in the South compared to 600,000 eligible whites; 16 black Congressman and 2 black senators were elected to US Congress; over 700 black men severed in state legislatures.
• 2. Black legislators contributed to the passage of laws that increased funding for public education and that required equal access to transportation and public facilities. Black voters gained majorities South Carolina, Mississipi and Florida.
• 3. 14 black politicians were elected to US House of Representatives and 2 to Mississipi Senate. 1,000 black elected to local posts that gave them considerable power. Several black sheriffs were elected in rural Mississipi while Republican city governments appointed black police and provided poor relief.
• 4. Black civic societies and grassroots political organizations began to sprout up across the South, most led by prominent blacks who had been freedmen since before the Civil war.