Segregation in the Late 1800's

Sharecropping usually left farmers in chronic debt.
They gave their landlords a portion of their crops as rent and
paid for goods, housing, equipment and other expenses from
the money made from the crop.  They usually ended up
owing more than they made...
 

 

Many African Americans fled the South for farms in the Midwest, like Kansas.  When the Populist Party formed, many African American farmers joined the organization.  This created a dilemma for the Democratic Party of the South who feared poor white farmers would do the same.  They resorted to using racism.  In addition, election officials began to use a variety of methods disenfranchise African American voters.

Poll tax
Literacy requirements
Grandfather clause

Discrimination was not just limited to voting. 
Jim Crow Laws
Plessy v. Ferguson
"separate but equal"

African Americans responded in various ways.
Ida Wells
Mary Church Terrell
Booker T. Washington
W.E.B. DuBois