There is a great book examing the period you are inquiring about that you should check out. Steven Hahn, A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration (Cambridge: Belknap, 2003).

One thing to consider is that experiences are going to vary between different sections of the country, and the rural and urban divide.

There were different reactions in the rural south. Some blacks were compelled to self-governance and separatism instead of existing in a biracial society. Others strove for political biracialism and participated in movements like the Readjusters, Independents, and Populists.

Generally, black men could vote, hold office, and own property for 20 years after slavery. Races may have legally been equal due to the Civil Rights Act of 1865, but, I suspect that blacks were not socially equal anywhere, and that carried over into the court room - and that is why so many of them sought out separatism and built their own towns, churches, and elected their own politicians.