African Americans In The 1800s

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

Many whites seen a gathering as a threat or taunt, and a new group known as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was a threat to African Americans during Reconstruction. Major General Joseph Reynolds the man in charge of Reconstruction in Texas noted in a 1868 report “In some counties the civil officers are all, or a portion of them, members of the Klan. . . . The murder of Negroes is so common as to render it impossible to keep an accurate account of them.” . According to a secondary source that one historian noted various reason white Texans justified the killings of African Americans “Freedman did not remove his hat when he passed him (a white man); negro would not allow himself to be whipped; freedman would not allow his wife to be whipped by a white man; he was carrying a letter to a Freedman’s Bureau official; kill negroes to see them kick; wanted to thin out niggers a little; didn’t hand over his money quick enough; wouldn’t give up his whiskey flask.”

This turn to violence was how the first Ku Klux Klan rose. The Klan was formed by six ex-Confederate Veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee, this organization started off small but began absorbing most of the other anti-Reconstruction groups in the south, like the Men of Justice, the Pale Faces, the Constitutional Union Guards, the White Brotherhood, and the Order of the White Rose (Infoplease.com). The Ku Klux Klan was created in fear of an insurrection by the ex-slaves, now the freedmen. The most recognized founder of the Klan was Nathan Bedford Forrest. Their white robes and masks are supposed to be a representation of ex-Confederate soldiers who died during the civil war. One of the Klan’s biggest goal was keeping the freedmen away from the voting polls to assure the success of ex-Confederates in gaining back their political control in many states. In 1871, President Grant took an aim at the Klan for their interference in black suffrage but by this time the support for Reconstruction was beginning to diminish because racism was still very much alive in both the north and the south. As time progressed the Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives. The democrats waged a campaign of violence to take control of Mississippi to which President Grant responded with a refusal of federal troop intervention which ended support of the Reconstruction era. In the election of 1876, Republican, Rutherford B. Haynes, reached a compromise with

Although not all went to the extremes of the KKK using terror, beating, and even murder to fulfill their quest in purifying America, they however they did support it’s ideology in many rural America. It has been estimated that, between the years 1920-27, the hands of the Klan members in the Southern states butchered 416 Blacks. Research indicates that most of the victims were innocent or were convicted of small offenses that certainly didn’t deserve such punishment. In the southern states, where the majority of the African American population resided, the notion of ‘white supremacy’ went unquestioned. Scarily enough, the KKK reached their hands into politics as well. In the state o f Indiana, the ‘Grand Wizard’, David Stephenson was politically powerful. It was also alleged that the Klan helped elect the governor of Maine, Colorado, and Louisiana in 1924. Moreover, on August 18th 1925 the Ku Klux Klan was able to parade down 40,000 men on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C without any intervention from state officials. Segregated facilities in government buildings remained unchanged since the first decade of the century, which showed the American government during the twenties was continually ignoring issues linked to ethnic minorities and the hostile attitudes of its people towards them. The act of

During reconstruction, the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments passed in congress, making African-americans citizens, allowing them to vote, and banned slavery. Before the civil war slavery was a big thing in the south, and many of the people believed that the blacks were not people, so these amendments did not go over with the south very well. One man, named Colby who was a former slave, talks about his experience with the KKK; “One the 29th of October 1869 [the Klansmen] broke my door open, took me out of bed, took me to the woods and whipped me three hours or more and left me for dead” (Document B, 1-2). He goes on and talks about how the Klansmen were of different social classes and intellects, but had the same hatred towards

An article posted on History.com described the attack, " [...] in January 1871 500 masked men attacked the Union county jail and lynched eight black prisoners" (“Ku Klux Klan”). The Ku Klux Klan's intrusion at the jail highlights their highly publicized affinity for lynching African-Americans. This transpired shortly after the passing of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1870, designed to further enhance the implementation of equality. However, these acts and reforms passed during the Reconstruction in order to create an institution of equality provoked white supremacists in the South to retaliate and form the KKK in the first place.

In the South, the KKK practically took over, and some Southerners were afraid of trying to

In order to threaten the equality of African Americans, white Southerners formed different terrorist groups that were used to force former slaves to resist from trying to pursue their equality, one of the groups being the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan was formed based on the fear of economic competition that could be held between white and Black men. “The Ku Klux Klan targeted three main groups as part of their ‘Southern resistance’ to Radical Reconstruction. These people included carpetbaggers (Northerners who moved South following the war), scalawags (Southerners who voted for the despised Republican Party) and the millions of former slaves” (History Magazine, 13) The Klan knew who to aim for when it came to taking down the desire of having former slaves to become equals to their white counterparts, this would ensure that the Klan was not only heard by the government through their violence but also the people who took part of the three groups. In order to allow themselves to be heard, the Klan had more than one method of influence which included threats, whippings, beatings, and murder (History Magazine, 13). An example of the torture enforced by the Klan is through the incident of Elias Hill in South Carolina. Hill was a Black man who had no ability to use either his arms or his legs and was dragged

Southern americans showed extreme contempt for African Americans even after the end of the civil war. They believed that blacks were uncivilized and unworthy of american citizenship and voting rights. This distain for blacks became a learned behavior and continued into the 20th century. Beginning as early as 1865 a group of called the Ku Klux Klan sought out african americans and killed and tortured them in horrible ways. By 1870, the Ku Klux Klan had branches in nearly every southern state, the groups main object being an underground campaign of violence against Republican leaders and voters in an effort to change the laws of Radical Reconstruction and restore white supremacy in the South.(J.M. Bryant "Ku Klux Klan in the Reconstruction Era.") The KKK’s tactics of political terrorism were effective and set fear in the hearts of many. Black churches and schools were burned, citizens attacked, and people who refused proper submission were beaten and killed. This was a terrible time in American history and truly shows southern whites contempt for emancipation of their slaves, and the extremes circumstances whites would go to express that animosity.

However, originating from the late 1860’s, the Ku Klux Klan, or KKK, was a secret society created by white southerners in 1866 that used terror and violence to keep african americans from obtaining their civil rights. In 1871, the United States Congress authorized an act that resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of Klan leaders and members. Though the Ku Klux Klan retreated their acts of violence slowly, the federal government's military presence was withdrawn from various Southern states. The Compromise of 1877 ordered remaining troops to extract themselves from remaining Southern states. With no troops to enforce the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, Reconstruction came to an

Eight months after the Civil War, in the south the government was weak and there were no jobs available. On Christmas Eve of 1866, six confederate veterans started a social hate group in Pulaski, Tennessee. The six confederate veterans were John Lester, James Crowe, John Kennedy, Calvin Jones, Richard Reed, and Frank McCord. The group started off as just wanting to have fun and keep themselves entertained. The six founders were well educated and came from wealthy families. From their Greek knowledge, they use the word kyklos meaning circle and then added the word Klan. The Ku Klux Klan was then born. Nathan Bedford Forrest was the first leader of the Klan. He was known as the “Grand Wizard.”

Meanwhile, “they [the KKK] ransacked the place again and began yelling and cursing and calling his name” (425). The riders were desperate for the papers that allowed them to own the land Randall Ware had owned at the time, and they needed Ware to get the papers for them. This attack on Randall Ware is a contributing factor to one

Johnny Reeves thought being a part of the Klan was a big deal, so he led them in opening prayers in the church and activities put on by the Klan such as the burning of the cross. As he eventually became more important to the Klan he started preaching about how if anyone who was not a part of the Klan be chased out of town. The Klan also sent threats to Sara Chickering to join the Klan, because they wanted her to leave the Hirshes, so they could have them for themselves. He would preach that black people were gamblers, womanizers, and drunks which led to fighting and negroes to killing other negroes.

At his first over 2000 people showed up, which later would turn into the hundreds of thousands. While he was traveling, he recruited minister Dorset who became the klans priest at every event. Dorset and Jones became a deadly duo.

The public felt incapable in contradiction of them since they had no power over them. Stetson Kennedy broke into the secrets of the Klan by interviewing and sympathizing with the leaders of the clan which he had some contacts which helped him act as if he was in the same side of the problem. In his novel his code name was John Brown .This work would have been easier if Kennedy would of have internet he would of “blogged his brains out” (Levitt Dubner 60). "Hatred and Profits: Getting Under the Hood of the Ku Klux Klan."” In this paper, they analyze the 1920s Klan, those who joined it, and the social and political impact that it had. They utilize a wide range of newly discovered data sources including information from Klan membership rolls, applications, robe-order forms, an internal audit of the Klan by Ernst and Ernst, and a census that the Klan conducted after an internal scandal”. This is the same that Kenney accomplished. Brown was capable to divulge that the Klan’s man used to append a Kl to many words at the beginning. The secret hand shake was a left/handed, limp wristed fish wiggle. When someone wanted to communicate with a Klan member he would ask for a Mr. Ayak (are you a Klansman) and he would hope for a response like Yes and I know a Mr. Akai (a Klansman am I).The incentive marked by the Klan which was lynching was not so used as it is thought it just made the Colored