• Was a war hero and general under Abraham Lincoln
• In 1870 he supported the 15 Amendment – giving Black men the right to vote
• Brought over 3,000 indictments against the Klan to protect Black citizenship
• By 1872, the Klan’s power had collapsed, and black men voted in record numbers in elections in the South.
• enforced civil and voting rights
• Signed the Civil Rights of 1875 -it was designed to “protect all citizens in their civil and legal rights”, providing for equal treatment in public accommodations and public transportation
• Fredrick Douglass quoted as saying: “To him, more than to any other man, the Negro owes his enfranchisement,”  after Grant’s death.
• According to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, African Americans looked on Grant with favor: “Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, but it was Grant who actually freed the slaves.”

During The Reconstruction period from 1865 – 1877  over thirteen hundred African Americans held government jobs and several hundred served in elected public office. The first black colleges such as Fisk and Howard University were founded. 

Ulysses S Grant truly is not talked about enough for his role in assisting blacks in reconstruction. I would have stuck with the Republican Party during this time