During Reconstruction, black people became histortical leaders. They held public office and pursued equality and the right to vote through legislative modifications.
One advantage of this legal strategy was the passing of the 14th and 15th Amendments, which gave them equal protection under the law (14th Amendment) and the right to vote (15th Amendment). But, besides this, there still was a large amount of white people who disagreed with equality for their previous slaves.
One disadvantage was the opposers' strategy to destroy this progress, which was the setting of the "Jim Crow" laws in the late 19th century. Blacks were marginalized, they had to use the public services and facilities under different conditions, go to different schools and live in different towns. Marriage between white and black people was illegal and they could not vote due to their inability to pass literacy tests for voters.
Thanks to the previous hard work to end with inequality of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (gave blacks the possibility to get equal employments), Harry Truman (ended discrimination in the military), Rosa Park (protested against segregated seating), Martin Luther King Jr. (led the American Civil Rights Movement), and more people, The Fair Housing Act became law on April 11, 1968, and it prevented all kinds of discrimination.
Black people and activists eventually achieved their equality, but it took a lot of suffering and loss.
