The Ku Klux Klan During The Reconstruction Era

In the South, reconstruction efforts by Northerners and Southerners alike were challenging because of attacks by racially biased groups. A group called the Ku Klux Klan led these efforts. The Ku Klux Klan attacked both blacks who were trying to gain political power, or whites who were helping them or were helping with the general reconstruction effort. Many soldiers and Northerners who were helping the efforts (dubbed carpetbaggers), were wary of helping the efforts if it was going to be that risky. (A) This political cartoon illustrates this, because it shows a

Topic: In 1866, the Ku Klux Klan was founded by many former confederate veterans in retaliation to their current Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies aimed at establishing political and economic equality for blacks. The Reconstruction era sparked by President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation clearly defined that the days of white superiority were in dissolution. Through a willful ignorance and an insecurity of what might postlude the civil rights movement, the KKK rose, using terror in pursuit of their white supremacist agenda. Nathan Bedford Forrest, a former Lieutenant general in the Civil war, became the KKK's first Grand Wizard. Now with a steady leader the klan became a persistent political party aimed at dismantling the increasingly

During the Reconstruction period, beginning in 1865, the United States entered a period in which they mended relationships between the North and the South. It was also a period of hostility between both sides. The war had ended and the Southerners’ had suffered plenty of damage to their land. The Reconstruction period was a time which the South was rebuilt with the integration of all the newly freed blacks into society. This particular collection I chose by Thomas Nast called “Franchise. But not this man?” and “Pardon” are depicted during the Reconstruction. This collection was printed in the Harper’s Weekly, a very popular Union newspaper during the Civil War. An analysis of the images depict the common beliefs shared by

During the Reconstruction Era, Congress passed many laws to provide equal rights to people of color. But at the local level, specifically in the South, many Democrats took the law into their own hands. They supported the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) hoping to restore the pre-Civil War social hierarchy. The texts in Going to the Source illustrate two groups of individuals who opposed the KKK. In testimonies given by white witnesses, Republicans from the North felt the KKK posed a political and social danger in the South, but did not feel intimidated. The testimonies given by black witnesses were people who had experience of the Klan’s violence, and felt their lives were threatened. The Klan’s attacks on whites were more inclined towards social harassment, while their attacks on blacks, which consisted of voting intimidation and night rides, were violent and abusive because the KKK’s main goal was white supremacy.

During the 1920’s rebirth of the KKK, the Klan would turn to politics to help push their beliefs. Hundreds of Klansmen would go onto win elections to local offices and state legislatures, which at the height of their power would account for more than three million members (Henretta, pg. 670). Having members of the Klan elected to local offices and state legislatures, allowed for the Klan to become very influential. Eventually becoming so influential, the clan had people feeling as if they were compelled to support or join them. Along with becoming influential, having Klansmen in local offices and state legislatures allowed for the Klan become dispersed across the country. Unlike the original Klan, the reborn Klan well geographically

To understand the Klan, then, it is necessary to understand the character and present mind of the mass of old-stock Americans. The mass, it must be remembered, as distinguished from the intellectually mongrelized "Liberals.'

Whatever of good may have come in these years of change, the shadow of a deep disappointment rests upon the Negro people,--a disappointment all the more bitter because the unattained ideal was unbounded save by the simple ignorance of a lowly people. The first decade was merely a prolongation of the vain search for freedom, the boon that seemed ever barely to elude their grasp,--like a tantalizing will-o'-the-wisp, maddening and misleading the headless host. The holocaust of war, the terrors of the Ku-Klux Klan, the lies of carpet-baggers, the disorganization of industry, and the contradictory advice of friends and foes, left the bewildered serf with no new watchword beyond the old cry for freedom" (Chapter 1). They thought the Black people did not enjoy their deserved rights, like the 14th and 15th Amendments. 14th Amendments provided civil rights for African Americans, and15th Amendments provided voting rights for African Americans. Ku Klux Klan preventing African American from using the 15th Amendment to enable them to vote. Ku Klux Klan was the terrorist arm of the Southern Democratic Party. The immediate goal of these groups was to keep white and black Republicans away from polling places. Their violent tactics, targeted at black leaders, escalated during Reconstruction. White mobs killed three state legislators during these turbulent times.

The goal of this investigation is to delve into the question of: to what extent was the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan during the 1920s a reflection of societal change? In order to assess this question from multiple perspectives on the topic, research is needed to further look into the Klan’s motives both prior to their revival as well as after. Events in the 1870s, when the Klan ended, as well as events in the 1920s, when the klan was reborn, will be considered in this investigation in order to make connections between the KKK and why their revival in the 1920s reflected societal change. Among these events include the end of Reconstruction, the Progressive Era, increase of immigration to the United States, as well as the “red scare” of communism.

This strategy was known as “Jim Crow Laws” where the laws operated to prevent the blacks from voting. In the cartoons drawn by Dr. Seuss in the PM newspaper, literacy tests was an action that prevented blacks from voting(Doc H). This indicates that southerners thought that African- Americans were not eligible for the vote due to the voters race. With this attitude towards blacks, social prejudices began to change the south’s society to turn against blacks. The purpose of Dr. Seuss in the cartoons is to spread awareness of how blacks are treated in the south as freed people. Another social reform occurred in the south was the birth of the Klu Klux Klan; which is a cult that began with Confederate soldiers terrorizing blacks. As seen in the image taken in Tennessee 1865, men and boys are seen dressed in white gowns to represent the ghost of the Confederacy(Doc E). The image exemplifies that bigotry was being taught to the south’s youth to be racist towards the freed African-Americans. In this situation, the historical context indicates that southern whites began to terrorize blacks living in the south by dressing as the Confederacy’s past. Also,

After the Reconstruction era, African Americans were granted citizenry in the United States through the abolition of slavery. As blacks sought to live among American culture, white citizens, primarily based in the South, came under rage. Thus, white supremacy became prominent in the United States after the Reconstruction era, a period also called the Nadir. This erupted into a series of violent attacks against the black community and many legislations to deny blacks the immunities and privileges granted to all people in the constitution.

Shawn Lay, from “ The Second Invisible Empire and Toward a New Historical Appraisal of the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s”, rejects the view of the KKK as a radical fringe group comprised of marginal men and instead characterizes the KKK of the 1920s as a

The second Ku Klux Klan lasted between 1915 to 1944 but predominantly rose and fell during the 1920s. The Ku Klux Klan was a white supremacist group with millions of members who brutally tortured and killed anyone who was not a white American. The Ku Klux Klan were known for their white robes, cone hats, and covered faces that disguised their identities. The second Ku Klux Klan’s most important part of it’s history was it’s dramatic rise and fall. The Ku Klux Klan rapidly gained popularity during the 1920s due to political encouragement and immigration, then fell due to political corruption.

Frustrated confederate soldiers made their way back home after losing the war that they had been fighting for four years. These men formed vigilante groups, attacking black people. While soldiers did this, wealthier men who had avoided fighting in the war formed agricultural and police clubs for the same purpose; both groups soon took shape and evolved into one large group, known as the Ku Klux Klan and Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest became the first leader, known as the Grand Wizard. The name Ku Klux Klan is derived from the Greek word, Kyklos, meaning circle. The Ku Klux Klan, often shortened to the KKK, was founded in Tennessee in 1866 and grew to be one of the most feared terrorist groups in the United States, before dying off in 1869, but later being revived in 1915 (History.com Staff). The Ku Klux Klan negatively impacted the Reconstruction period through terror, intimidating Republican voters, and killing Republican officials.

Hooded Americanism: The First Century of the Ku Klux Klan: 1865 to the Present by David Chalmers records the history of the Ku Klux Klan quite bluntly, all the way from its creation following the civil war, to the early 1960’s. The author starts the book quite strongly by discussing in detail many acts of violence and displays of hatred throughout the United States. He makes a point to show that the Klan rode robustly throughout all of the country, not just in the southern states. The first several chapters of the book focus on the Klan’s creation in 1865. He goes on to discuss the attitude of many Americans following the United State’s Civil War and how the war shaped a new nation. The bulk of the book is used to go through many of

The Ku Klux Klan was known as the biggest hate group in American History, and they are responsible for thousands of innocent blacks’ deaths. The Ku Klux Klan made it very hard for the blacks, Catholics, Jews, immigrants, and homosexuals to live a normal life. The Klan made them live in fear.