African American officeholders alt=Radical members of the first legislature after the war, South Carolina|thumb|"Radical members of the first legislature after the war, South Carolina" Republicans took control of all Southern state governorships and state legislatures, except for Virginia.Georgia had a Republican governor and legislature, but the Republican hegemony was tenuous at best, and Democrats continued to win presidential elections there. See ; cf. Rufus Bullock. The Republican coalition elected numerous African Americans to local, state, and national offices; though they did not dominate any electoral offices, Black men as representatives voting in state and federal legislatures marked a drastic social change. At the beginning of 1867, no African American in the South held political office, but within three or four years "about 15 percent of the officeholders in the South were Black—a larger proportion than in 1990". Most of those offices were at the local level. In 1860, Blacks constituted the majority of the population in Mississippi and South Carolina, 47% in Louisiana, 45% in Alabama, and 44% in Georgia and Florida, so their political influence was still far less than their percentage of the population.
African American officeholders alt=Radical members of the first legislature after the war, South Carolina|thumb|"Radical members of the first legislature after the war, South Carolina" Republicans took control of all Southern state governorships and state legislatures, except for Virginia.Georgia had a Republican governor and legislature, but the Republican hegemony was tenuous at best and Democrats continued to win presidential elections there. See ; cf. Rufus Bullock. The Republican coalition elected numerous African Americans to local, state, and national offices; though they did not dominate any electoral offices, Black men as representatives voting in state and federal legislatures marked a drastic social change. At the beginning of 1867, no African American in the South held political office, but within three or four years "about 15 percent of the officeholders in the South were Black—a larger proportion than, in 1990". Most of those offices were at the local level. In 1860, Blacks constituted the majority of the population in Mississippi and South Carolina, 47% in Louisiana, 45% in Alabama, and 44% in Georgia and Florida, so their political influence was still far less than their percentage of the population.