 The Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 was denounced by black Congressmen and resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, part of Reconstruction legislation by Republicans.By the late 1870s, Democratic whites managed to regain power in the South.From 1890 to 1908 they proceeded to pass legislation that disenfranchised most African Americans and many poor whites, trapping them without representation.