Complex sentence: After Reconstruction ended, the South was left a poverty-stricken backwater dependent on agriculture, while white Southerners soon succeeded in re-establishing legal and political dominance over blacks through violence, intimidation and discrimination.
Split into simpler sentences: After Reconstruction ended, the South was left a poverty-stricken "backwater" dependent on agriculture. White Southerners soon succeeded in re-establishing legal and political dominance over blacks through violence, intimidation and discrimination.