a stronger hold in government in means to enfranchise African Americans right to vote. The members wrapped themselves and their horses in a sheet and rode through small towns leaving the impression that they were the ghosts of confederate dead. At the time, of course, this was a small harmless group of angered men, but it would quickly rise to be a popularized and effective klan. To popularize their organization, klan members held rallies and parades to show their power and intimidate opposers throughout the summer of 1867. Stories of the clan made newspapers across the nation, romanticizing the group's violence and stirring the imaginations of the north and south. One editor portrayed the KKK as “vigilant type hero's committed to fighting evildoers” (Bartoletti …show more content…
Although the clan was intended for white men, ages eighteen and older, women found their place in the klan as well. Women carried messages, prepared meals, sewed clothing, and even protected klansmen from the law. The racial group grew uncontrollably and was believed able to soon engulf the nation. In April of 1867, because of the klans growing numbers, a convention was held at the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee in means to establish order within the untamed group. In September of 1868 membership numbers had topped 550,000 men, 40,000 of which were in Tennessee alone. This meant that one out of two southern white men were members of the Ku Klux Klan by the late 1860’s. The power of the KKK began to exceed that of the government. Tennessee Governor William G. Brownlow planned to plant spies within the clan. When the klan heard of the plan the spies were brutally killed. One was found strung up in a tree with his feet just barely touching the ground. Another was found stripped and mutilated. A third was stuffed in a barrel where he drowned in the Cumberland
They thought they were lesser people and deserved to go back to slavery. Colby later wrote in his testimony to the House, “Some are first-class men in or town. One is a lawyer, one a doctor, and some are farmers… They said I had voted for Grant and had carried the Negroes against them (Doc B).” Colby is again talking about the KKK and what they said to him that night. This quote describes the actions of those rich white men. Why else would they act out like that? They gained power by terrorizing the voters. In the Independent Monitor, on September 1, 1868, there was an image depicting the democratic KKK hanging carpetbaggers (Picture in Doc A). The term “Carpetbaggers” means a Northerner heading South after the Civil War. They usually took important offices and tried to get rid of slavery. That angered the South and the KKK. Though some Northerners had bad perspectives on the Freedmen in the South, so did the people in the South. There is an image about the South Carolina State Legislature during Reconstruction (Picture in Doc D) that shows the African Americans arguing , while the white senators look angry and frustrated with them. Their faces show they are haughty and are looking down upon the newly elected African American senators. This shows they think they are better than
The population of African Americans from 1865 to 1900 had limited social freedom. Social limitations are limitations that relate “…to society and the way people interact with each other,” as defined by the lesson. One example of a social limitation African Americans experienced at the time is the white supremacy terrorist group, the Ku Klux Klan or the KKK. The KKK started as a social club formed by former confederate soldiers, which rapidly became a domestic terrorist organization. The KKK members were white supremacists who’s objective was to ward off African Americans from using their new political power. In an attempts to achieve their objective, Klansmen would burn African American schools, scare and threaten voters, destroy the homes of African Americans and also the homes of whites who supported African American rights. The greatest terror the KKK imposed was that of lynching. Lynching may be defined via the lesson as, “…public hanging for an alleged offense without benefit of trial.” As one can imagine these tactics struck fear into African Americans and the KKK was achiev...
During WWI, the United States military armed African-American soldiers and sent them to fight on the front lines. Returning home at the end of the war, many white veterans resented the arming of these African-American soldiers. Conversely, the returning African-American soldiers greatly resented being sent home and back to a life as a second class citizen. Perhaps as an effort to seek some kind of revenge on the black soldiers, or possibly as an attempt to quell the slowly growing equality of African-Americans, the Klu Klux Klan experienced a drastic upswing in membership during the 1920s. Originally founded in 1865 the Klu Klux Klan experienced an upswing in membership during the 1920s after the war. The Klan opened its first base in Oregon after its revival in central California. Historians note that one reason why many influential white Americans may have supported the Klan was because the Klan was in favor of prohibition, the ...
Black workers who had been confined to the South began to move to cities in the north to escape segregation, sharecropping, and racial violence. Access to jobs, housing, and public facilities became a major source of friction between blacks and whites. African Americans settled in all-black neighborhoods, and the largest was Harlem. Although it was a violent decade for African Americans, a powerful sense of racial pride gave birth to the Harlem Renaissance, the first self-conscious literary and artistic movement in African American history. However, the great migration of African Americans and the increasing visibility of black culture discomfited some white Americans. In consequence, a new version of the Ku Klux Klan emerged mainly due to post-war depression in agriculture, migration, religious intolerance, and nativism. Klan members considered themselves defenders of Prohibition, traditional morality, and true Americanism, and they were not only anti-black, but also anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic, anti-Communist, anti-immigrant, anti-alcohol, and anti-science. By 1924, the Klan reached its peak in members and influence controlling 24 state legislatures. However, in 1925, after David C. Stephenson, one of the leaders, was accused of a serious crime, followed by the prosecution of many Klan-supported politicians on corruption charges, the majority of its members left the organization.
Following Lincoln’s tragic assassination, President Andrew Johnson took on the accountability of making Reconstruction a reality. Andrew Johnson wanted to use Lincoln’s ideas of reconstruction but in a modified form. Since Congress would be in recess for eight more months Johnson decided to go ahead with his plan. Johnson's goal in reconstruction was to grant amnesty to all former Confederates (except high officials), the ordinances of secession were to be revoked, Confederate debts would repudiate, and the states had to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment. Once the states swore to a loyalty oath to abide by the conditions they would be allowed to return to the Union. After swearing to the oath Confederate States would be allowed to govern themselves. With this power the states implemented the creation of a system of black codes that restricted the actions of freed slaves in much the same way, if not exactly the same way, that slaves were restricted under the old law. The end result of his plan was a hopeless conflict with the Radical Republicans who dominated Congress, passed measures over Johnson's vetoes, and attempted to limit the power of the executive concerning appointments and removals.
...manding, and we expect to win, a return of power into the hands of the everyday, not highly cultured, not overly intellectualized, but entirely unspoiled and not de-Americanized, average citizen of the old stock. The KKK has now come to speak for the great mass of Americans of the old pioneer stock" (Document D.) By 1923, Klan membership grew to five million. However, there was a sharp decline in members within a decade, showing how the new frameset of mind took over the old quickly. Accept the new, changing world around them. They represented the old, racist values long thought to have been delegated to the South.
In the first few years of the Reconstruction, violent acts against the former slaves took place primarily in the south. In 1866, about one year after the civil war, the most well renowned terrorist group of the time, the Klu Klux Klan, took shape in Tennessee. In 1866, the Civil Rights Bill was proposed in Congress. At the time, it was referred to as, “one of the most important bills ever presented to the House for its action.”
The Emancipation Proclamation did little to clarify the status or citizenship of the freed slaves; it opened the possibility of military service for blacks. In 1863, the need for men convinced the administration to recruit northern and southern blacks for the Union army. Lincoln came so see black soldier as “the great available and yet unavailed for force for restoring the Union”. African American people helped that military service would secure equal rights for their people. One the black soldier had fought for the Union, wrote Frederick Douglass, “there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship in the United States.” Lincoln exhibited a remarkable ability to alter his attitudes according to circumstance. He became so sincerely admire black soldiers during the Civil War. June 1864, Lincoln called on the party to “put into the platform as the keystone, the amendment of the Constitution abolishing and prohibiting slavery forever.” The party promptly called for the Thirteenth Amendment. The proposed amendment passed in early 1865 and was sent to the states for ratification. Finally, the war to save the Union had also become the war to free
As President, Johnson decided to follow Lincolns plans by granting amnesty to almost all former confederates; establishing a Provisional government; and ratifying the thirteenth Amendment to abolish slavery. However, Johnson was not the same man as Lincoln for he was quite unpopular, especially with Congress. As the south was in a transitional period, its politics were changing as well. First, the Reconstruction Act allowed blacks to v...
On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation; as the country headed toward the third year of the civil war. This proclamation stated: “that all persons held as slaves are, and hence forward shall be free,” however this only applied to the states that were no longer part of the union, leaving slavery untouched in other states. However the Emancipation Proclamation was needed to benefit African Americans.
When the Civil War was approaching its third year, United States President Abraham Lincoln was able to make the slaves that were in Confederate states that were still in rebellion against the Union forever free. Document A states that on January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation and that every enslaved person residing in the states that were “In rebellion against the United States” were free and that the Executive Government of the United States and that the military and naval authority were to recognize them and could not act against them at all. Although the Proclamation did not free every slave in the Confederacy, it was able to release about 3.5 million slaves. Along with freeing all of those slaves, it also stated that African American men were allowed to enlist with the Union and aid them in the war.
Cries ring out in the dead of night from the black people of the southern states in Tennessee, as mysterious figures in white robes with hoods ride on their horses. To most they were thought of as the Confederate soldier’s ghosts riding and terrorizing the blacks. People wanted to know who these mysterious riders are and why they are terrorizing the black people of the south. Since they were wearing all white robes they could not tell their identity leading to more confusion. They became known as the Invisible Empire due to the fact that there were hundreds of them but nobody knew who they really were. Later in the Invisible Empires history we find out that these mysterious ghost riders are a part of the Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klan was an organization meant to preserve the southern way of life. They use forms of intimidation to scare the black people such as riding through the night on horses. It was first started as something for ex-confederate soldiers to do since they were not fighting the war anymore but soon these small threats and intimidation turned into a violent hate group. Through the Ku Klux Klan’s history we see its practices and beliefs evolve from a fun, social organization to a worldwide feared hate group.
The Ku Klux Klan was founded in May of 1866, in Pulaski, Tennessee by six veterans of the Confederate Army. The early years of the Klan's existence were focused mainly on restoring white power in the government. The Klan often spoke against Radical Republicans, the political party that most supported the rights of former slaves. At first the Klan seemed relatively harmless. But as time went on, the so called white supremacists showed how far they were willing to go to fulfill their craving for America to go back to its former ways.
The KKK was once an African American hate group in the late 1800’s, created by Confederate generals who wanted to continue suppressing their former slaves with terror. It was shut down after their leaders were plagued with scandals, and their business dealings put out into the open, for all to see and read. People finally understood what the Klan was about and obviously did not want it. Although in 1915, William J. Simmons watched D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation” which depicted the story of what happened after the Civil War, through the eyes of a glorified Klansman. He was stargazed at how Griffith depicted the Klan, and as him being a long time joiner of clubs, he decided to bring back the Ku Klux Klan. A surprising fact is how a man like this could lead a group of hate, as he used to be a minister. (“Ku Klux Klan -- Extremism in America”) This second generation of the Klan created almost an “Invisible Empire” by their high point. Their members were scattered across state and federal government, and one could say that they “co...
For nearly five years the Ku Klux Klan spread throughout the United States. It was not until the enforcement acts of 1870 and 1871 that took action against terrorist groups. At this time, the south was still physically and emotionally recovering from the Civil War. Economically, they struggled and crisis swept throughout, causing failure in railroad companies, education, transportation, and prisons. The Panic of 1873 doubled the depression and rage. With Ulysses S. Grant in the position of president, government began paying less and less attention to issues over prejudice, discrimination, and racial harassment and the all interest in trying to protect African Americans in the south was lost. Impatience from expenses and struggle arrived in