Reconstruction Of African Americans During The 1900's

Going beyond the roots of the southern states, the KKK had a huge impact on the American society in the 1920’s. To fully understand the Ku Klux Klan you have to know how the KKK originated. The Ku Klux Klan founded in 1866 in the town of Pulaski, Tennessee by former confederate army veterans; the first leader of the KKK is also known as the “Grand Wizard” was Nathan Bedford Forrest who was a former slave trader. The KKK was created in order to enforce white superiority in the south. The Klan members primarily targeted people who were not white, Anglo- Saxon, or Protestant.

With the Voting Rights Act the legislation removed the rigged literacy tests to vote allowing more African Americans to be eligible to vote. (American Journey pg.668) With peaceful protest it appealed to Presidential action and support for African

Negros were counted into the census. These events I believe caused African Americans to fight harder for desegregation in the

The Ku Klux Klan Thesis Statement: How does this emergence of the KKK reflect White Supremacy of the post Civil War era? 1. Introduction a. The Ku Klux Klan is a white supremacist, paramilitary terrorist organization committed to the preservation of the traditional white southern values. Most white southerners considered African Americans minor and not worth much; thus, they could not accept the former slaves as equal participants in state and national politics. b.

The reconstruction era was a wonderful and horrible time for African Americans. Because the former slaves were free in all states, most were uneducated, jobless, and had no opportunity in the south. With the president to distracted with fraud rings, and the North getting tiered of the south political problems, its no wonder the reconstruction era came to an

In the first few years after the Civil War, not only was the South economically shattered, but it now had a large population of freed slaves to account for. Many Southerners were still opposed to African-Americans having equal rights, and they lasted out in violent ways without punishment. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was a group born out of hate and resentment towards African Americans. They were able to conduct a reign of terror over the South with impunity because they had justifications for their actions, making their atrocities seem less gruesome and terrible than it actually was, and many white Southerners still saw African-Americans as inferior which often bled into all aspects of their lives. Started in 1865 and originally a club for ex-Confederate soldiers1, the KKK grew into a massive terrorist organization with the mission “…in urging upon Americans the duty and necessity of preserving America’s precious race heritage2.”

The KKK was a group that killed or terrorized any african american or republican, for the sheer fact that they were either not white or not democrat, or both. The impact itself on southerners made them results to even much more violent and chaotic ways than

In a more symbolic fashion, this sudden shift, and instillation of Black Codes caused the southern states to become figurative slave masters that suppressed Black people into economic subjugation, political, and social subjugation. This cultivated in complete societal dominance by White people in the south. As a response to this, the Freedman’s Bureau and Civil Rights Bills were passed in early 1866; both of were meant to protect the rights of Black individuals of the South. Amendment XIV established birth right citizenship, meaning that all Black people born within the United States, both free and enslaved at time of birth, were hens forth recognized as American citizens. This section of the amendment also states that all citizens of the US are also citizens of the states in which they reside.

The Ku Klux Klan during the 1920s was primarily based in the southern United States but had a presence throughout the country, it was known for the use of violence, intimidation, and terrorism to support and maintain white supremacy, and its goal was to prevent progress for African Americans, immigrants, and other minority groups, basically all non-withes. The Klan's resurgence in the 1920s was a reaction to two significant events of the era: the Great Migration and the rise of nativism. The Great Migration was a large movement of African Americans coming from the south United States to the north cities in search of better opportunities and equality, the large Migration of African Americans into predominant white cities created social tensions

This granted Africans the right to vote. Unfortunately, poll taxes and literacy tests were later applied to minimize the votes from African Americans. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 states that they can’t “employ any literacy test as a qualification for voting in any Federal election unless (i) such test is administered to each individual and is conducted wholly in writing, and (ii) a certified copy of the test” is given (1964 Civil Rights Act, Title I, Section 101). This shows how it had to be the same and equal to every individual taking the literacy test. This didn’t outlaw literacy tests, but it made a restriction on having them all equal to

Those who remained in power in the south were determined to keep African Americans at a low social rank through systems such as sharecropping, which kept workers in perpetual debt, sometimes even under their previous masters. Blacks who had moved to the north in search of better conditions found that it was no better. There were almost no jobs available due to factories hiring immigrants for disgracefully low wages. On top of that, “separate but equal” was in its prime, after the court case Plessy v. Ferguson. This case gave those in power the right to separate people of color from all aspects of their life from establishments to schools to even drinking fountains.

The reconstruction period was a failure because African Americans, mainly males, were not treated with equality although the constitution said that the they were free and had the right to vote, be educated and had the right to liberty, life and the pursuit to happiness. Organizations, like the KKK, were created to harm freed slaves and their families. Laws were created such as the Black Codes restricting former slaves from their rights. African Americans endured a lot of violence over the years. “In Grayson, Texas, a white man and two friends murdered three former slaves because the wanted to ‘ thin the niggers out and drive them to their hole’”.

The Ku Klux Klan, also known as the KKK, had a significant impact on the division of American society. The clans’ goals were to get rid of the Republican Party, getting rid of reconstruction plans, and to prohibit African Americans from implementing their political rights. These goals were carried out by means of violence, that is, by killing several thousands of innocent men, women, and children. The secession of the southern states from our nation and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and the terrible effects they had on American society greatly divided our

Voting was all sorts of crazy the African American were either forced to vote Democratic or were kept from voting due to intimidation and fear. Some African American individuals would often go to jail for minor incidents and would have to face the convict-lease system, which resulted in thousands

The Ku Klux Klan in the 1860s was a racist group towards African Americans. They set out to kill and harass African Americans. The Ku Klux Klan was only in the South at this time because slavery was legal there and very common. Since it was only in the South and only hated one race it did not last very long or spread through the country as much as the 1920s due to the restricted area were racism was legal. The Ku Klux Klan was reinvented in the United States in the 1920s.