Among the most notorious zones of Klan activity was South Carolina , where in January masked men attacked the Union county jail and lynched eight Black prisoners. In the regions where most Klan activity took place, local law enforcement officials either belonged to the Klan or declined to take action against it, and even those who arrested accused Klansmen found it difficult to find witnesses willing to testify against them.
After , Republican state governments in the South turned to Congress for help, resulting in the passage of three Enforcement Acts, the strongest of which was the Ku Klux Klan Act of For the first time, the Ku Klux Klan Act designated certain crimes committed by individuals as federal offenses, including conspiracies to deprive citizens of the right to hold office, serve on juries and enjoy the equal protection of the law.
The act authorized the president to suspend the writ of habeas corpus and arrest accused individuals without charge, and to send federal forces to suppress Klan violence. This expansion of federal authority—which Ulysses S. Grant promptly used in to crush Klan activity in South Carolina and other areas of the South—outraged Democrats and even alarmed many Republicans. From the early s onward, white supremacy gradually reasserted its hold on the South as support for Reconstruction waned; by the end of , the entire South was under Democratic control once again.
This second generation of the Klan was not only anti-Black but also took a stand against Roman Catholics, Jews, foreigners and organized labor. It was fueled by growing hostility to the surge in immigration that America experienced in the early 20th century along with fears of communist revolution akin to the Bolshevik triumph in Russia in The organization took as its symbol a burning cross and held rallies, parades and marches around the country.
At its peak in the s, Klan membership exceeded 4 million people nationwide. The civil rights movement of the s saw a surge of local Klan activity across the South, including the bombings, beatings and shootings of Black and white activists. These actions, carried out in secret but apparently the work of local Klansmen, outraged the nation and helped win support for the civil rights cause.
In , President Lyndon Johnson delivered a speech publicly condemning the Klan and announcing the arrest of four Klansmen in connection with the murder of a white female civil rights worker in Alabama. The cases of Klan-related violence became more isolated in the decades to come, though fragmented groups became aligned with neo-Nazi or other right-wing extremist organizations from the s onward. As of , the Anti-Defamation League estimated Klan membership to be around 3,, while the Southern Poverty Law Center said there were 6, members total.
But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Jim Crow laws were a collection of state and local statutes that legalized racial segregation. Named after a Black minstrel show character, the laws—which existed for about years, from the post-Civil War era until —were meant to marginalize African Americans by denying New Orleans had 21, voters registered as Republicans, but only people cast votes for the Republican candidates because voters were intimidated and threatened with violence.
Despite Democratic victories in states like Louisiana, Kansas, and Georgia, Republicans ultimately prevailed in the presidential election and sent Ulysses S. Grant to the White House. A considerable uptick in white violence played a significant role in the election. In Louisiana, a conflict over the gubernatorial election between Republican William Kellogg and Democrat John McEnery led to violence at the local level.
One of the bloodiest episodes during the Reconstruction period occurred in the Colfax Massacre in April When a large group of Republicans and freed people gathered at the Colfax, Louisiana, courthouse, armed and angry Democrats assembled and ordered the people to vacate the building. The armed group then set the courthouse on fire, forcing some blacks to surrender at gunpoint. Those who did not perished in the flames or were shot as they emerged.
Between 70 and African Americans were massacred. This drawing depicts the aftermath of the Colfax Massacre of April 13, , which left two white men and at least 70 black men dead. The story of the Colfax massacre, and the threat that it might occur elsewhere, chilled Republican political ambitions throughout the South.
Republicans and their black allies were often threatened with violence or death if they ran for office. Such violence played a major role in bringing about an untimely end to Reconstruction and the political hopes of the black community.
Grant, embarked on an extensive legislative program aimed at better protecting freed people from politically motivated violence. The law also empowered federal judges and U. A condition of affairs now exists in some of the States of the Union rendering life and property insecure. That the power to correct these evils is beyond the control of the State authorities I do not doubt. Therefore I urgently recommend such legislation as in the judgment of Congress shall effectually secure life, liberty, and property and the enforcement of law in all parts of the United States.
Congress granted the president power to use the army or suspend habeas corpus to ensure equal protection of the laws for African Americans.
Several hundred suspected Klan members were arrested and hundreds of others were driven off. Many of the Klan members accepted plea bargains, and most of the sentences for those convicted were fairly moderate.
As a result, civil rights cases would not be heard in friendlier federal courts, but rather in state courts, where civil rights violators were less likely to be convicted.
In United States v. Cruikshank , the Supreme Court struck down the Enforcement Act of on the grounds that the Fourteenth Amendment only applied to civil rights violations by the states and not those of private citizens, leaving black citizens at the mercy of unsympathetic state courts. This illustration by the political cartoonist Thomas Nast shows the KKK and the White League, another white supremacist group, joining together to bring violence and oppression to blacks.
One of the most violent anti-African American incidents of the post-Civil War era took place in. And where it is declared that Congress Shall have the power to enforce that article, was it intended to bring within the power of Congress the entire domain of civil rights heretofore belonging exclusively to the States? Leveled by. Monday, January 27, It was founded shortly after the Civil War ended.
It used intimidation, violence and murder to maintain white supremacy in Southern government and social life. It disappeared in the s, but formed again in and has continued to the present day. The U. Civil War took place between the Northern and Southern states between and The Southern states were known as the Confederacy, which broke away from the Union to protect their right to own black people as slaves.
The Union won, and the 11 Southern states became part of the United States again. Enslaved African Americans were freed. The KKK, also known as the Klan, was a secret organization that used terror tactics to target newly freed African Americans.
The KKK worked to enforce white supremacy, the hateful and wrong belief that white people are superior to others. The KKK wanted white people in the South to continue to have advantages in government and society, just like it was before the Civil War.
The Reconstruction was a period of time after the Civil War, from to During Reconstruction, many attempts were made to help freed slaves become a part of society.
One of the changes was the addition of the 14 th and 15 th Amendments to the Constitution. The Amendments ensured equal rights and the right to vote and be elected. In addition, federal laws were introduced to protect the civil rights of freed people.
However, when they tried to exercise their new rights, black voters suffered intimidation and violence. Much of these activities were organized by the Klan. House of Representatives. The KKK reacted with terrorizing night rides to the homes of black voters. Throughout the South, intimidation of this kind was very common. The KKK used secrecy, intimidation, violence, and murder to prevent formerly enslaved African-American men from voting. They especially targeted black officeholders and their supporters.
In , during the presidency of Ulysses S.
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