 From 1890 to 1908, beginning with Mississippi, southern states passed new constitutions and laws disenfranchising most blacks and excluding them from the political system, a status that was maintained in many cases into the 1960s.Much of the early reform movement during this era was spearheaded by the Radical Republicans, a faction of the Republican Party.By the end of the 19th century, with disenfranchisement in progress to exclude blacks from the political system altogether, the so-called lily-white movement also worked to substantially weaken the power of remaining blacks in the party.