On April 20, 1877, federal troops were withdrawn from public buildings in New Orleans, marking one of the final acts in the collapse of Reconstruction. This retreat effectively ended federal enforcement of civil rights in the South and handed control back to white supremacist “Redeemer” governments. The withdrawal followed the contested presidential election of 1876 and the resulting Compromise of 1877, in which Rutherford B. Hayes was awarded the presidency in exchange for ending federal intervention in Southern affairs. The decision left Black citizens vulnerable to voter suppression, segregation laws, and decades of systemic injustice under Jim Crow.
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