Reconstruction Timeline

1877 - Congress passes the First Reconstruction Act, which divides former Confederate states into five military districts under the command of army generals, requires districts to hold new elections for state offices, and grants voting rights for male citizens regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; enforcement of the act gives African Americans the majority vote in most Southern states

1868	Congress ratifies the Fourteenth Amendment, which grants full civil liberties to African Americans

1870	Congress ratifies the Fifteenth Amendment, which grants voting rights regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude”; it does not extend this right to women

1875	Civil Rights Act prohibits racial discrimination in employment and establishes the right of African Americans to serve on juries

Source: http://sparkcharts.sparknotes.com/history/africanamericanhist/section4.php