Which statement best summarizes the experience of African American voters in the South?

The experience of African American voters in the South can best be summarized as one of significant challenges and obstacles due to systemic racism and discriminatory practices. After the end of the Civil War and during the Reconstruction era, amendments to the U.S. Constitution were passed (the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments) which were meant to provide African Americans with civil rights, including the right to vote. However, once the Reconstruction period ended and federal troops withdrew from the South, African Americans faced severe repression through the establishment of Jim Crow laws and tactics such as literacy tests, poll taxes, grandfather clauses, and white primaries, all designed to disenfranchise black voters. In addition to legal barriers, African American voters also encountered threats, intimidation, and violence from white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan. It wasn't until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, culminating in the Voting Rights Act of 1965, that such practices were declared illegal and significant steps were taken to ensure the protection of African Americans' right to vote.