<P> The Solid South or Southern bloc was the electoral voting bloc of the states of the Southern United States for issues that were regarded as particularly important to the interests of Democrats in the southern states . The Southern bloc existed especially between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 . During this period, the Democratic Party controlled state legislatures; most local and state officeholders in the South were Democrats, as were federal politicians elected from these states . Southern Democrats disenfranchised blacks in every state of the former Confederacy at the turn of the century . This resulted essentially in a one - party system, in which a candidate's victory in Democratic primary elections was tantamount to election to the office itself . White primaries were another means that the Democrats used to consolidate their political power, excluding blacks from voting in primaries . </P> <P> The "Solid South" is a loose term referring to the states that made up the voting bloc at any point in time . The Southern region as defined by U.S. Census comprises sixteen states plus Washington, D.C.--Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas . This definition of the Southern region does not necessarily correspond precisely to the states in the definition of the Solid South . Maryland was occasionally considered part of the Solid South, as was Missouri, although it is classified as a Midwestern state by the U.S. Census . A former slave state, it became dominated by Democrats . </P>

How did the south regain control of its state governments in the end
find me the text answering this question