What is the impact of the political equality Blacks have achieved between 1619-2011?

Of course, African Americans have only come to have
relatively full political equality in the US since the 1960s.  It was only with the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 that the black right to vote (in the South, at least) has been
fully realized.  It is hard to pin down and agree on exactly how political equality has
impacted black society.

One impact that is indisputable is
that political equality has allowed many more African Americans to take positions of
power in government.  The most obvious of these is, of course, Pres. Obama, but many
other African Americans hold and have held lower offices.  This generally helps to get
Americans used to the idea of African Americans in positions of power and
responsibility.  This has (arguably) improved the image of black people in the minds of
other Americans.

What is much more debateable is how much
good political equality has done to the average African American.  The law encyclopedia
link below argues, for example, that

readability="6">

Many politicians who formerly made overt appeals
to white supremacy tempered their racist rhetoric to draw support from new black
voters.

This seems to be
true, but it is not clear that this change has led to any tangible benefits for the
black community.  It is not clear that it has led to government policies today that are
more favorable towards the black community than they were in for example, the late
1960s.