The Democratic Party and Jim Crow (late 1800s to mid-1900s)
Regaining power and codifying discrimination: After the end of Reconstruction in 1877, southern Democrats regained control of state legislatures and systematically disenfranchised African Americans and poor whites through laws such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and "grandfather clauses".
Forcing segregation: These Democratic-controlled state governments passed Jim Crow laws that mandated racial segregation in almost every area of public and private life, including schools, hospitals, public facilities, and transportation. Black facilities were consistently of inferior quality.
Expanding segregation into federal offices: When the Democratic Party gained control of the White House and Congress in 1913, President Woodrow Wilson's administration oversaw the segregation of federal government workplaces.
Opposing civil rights legislation: The powerful southern Democratic bloc in Congress consistently opposed civil rights legislation for decades. As late as 1964, southern Democrats led a filibuster to try and block the Civil Rights Act.
Democrats Connections to the KKK: During this period, the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan acted as a paramilitary force to intimidate Black and Republican voters in the South, and local law enforcement often belonged to the Klan or ignored its violence