Segregation was an attempt by white Southerners to separate the races in every sphere of life and to achieve supremacy over blacks. Segregation was often called the Jim Crow system, after a character from the 1830s who was an old, crippled, black slave who embodied negative stereotypes of blacks. Segregation became (47)______ in Southern states following the end of Reconstruction in 1877.
During Reconstruction, which followed the Civil War (1861-1865), Republican governments in the Southern states were run by blacks, Northerners, and some sympathetic Southerners. The Reconstruction governments had passed laws opening up economic and political (48)______ for blacks. By 1877 the Democratic Party had gained control of government in the Southern states, and these Southern Democrats wanted to (49)______ black advances made during Reconstruction. (50)______, they began to pass local and state laws that specified certain places "For Whites Only" and others for "Colored." Blacks had separate schools, transportation, restaurants, and parks, many of which were poorly funded and (51)______ to those of whites. Over the next 75 years, Jim Crow signs went up to separate the races in every possible place.
The system of segregation also included the denial of voting rights, known as disfranchisement. Between 1890 and 1910 all Southern states passed laws (52)______ requirements for voting that were used to prevent blacks from voting, in spite of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which had been designed to protect black voting rights. These requirements included: the ability to read and write, which disqualified the many blacks who had not had (53)______ to education; property ownership, something few blacks were able to acquire; and paying a poll tax, which was too great a burden on most Southern blacks, who were very poor.
Because blacks could not vote, they were (54)______ powerless to prevent whites from segregating all aspects of Southern life. They could do little to stop (55)______ in public accommodations, education, economic opportunities, or housing. The ability to struggle for equality was even undermined by the (56)______ Jim Crow signs, which constantly reminded blacks of their inferior status in Southern society.
Word Bank
A) imposing B) common C) prevalent
D) opportunities E) applaud F) virtually
G) concerning H) discrimination I) techniques
J) to that end K) inferior L) field
M) reverse N) specially O) access