Military occupation enabled the first Black men elected to southern office

Evidence

But it was a tenuous path that could be pursued only with protection. In the South, where millions of formerly enslaved people were attempting to claim their freedom and begin building their lives, the federal government maintained a military presence; this, alongside Black local and regional self-protection efforts, helped to keep order. These troops were able to briefly hold back some of the most violent and oppressive elements in the South, enabling Black men to exercise their new rights, casting ballots and mounting political campaigns. For the first time, Black men were elected to local and state office. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 893

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the case-study controversy: the claim that Black political power depended on federal protection frames Reconstruction as the fragile reverse of the ‘deviation vs design’ narrative.