Disenfranchisement Thesis

“ On the 29th of October 1869, [the Klansmen] broke my door open, took me to the woods and whipped me three hours or more and left me for dead.” “ About two days before they whipped me they offered me $5,000 to go with them and said they would pay me $2,500 in cash if I would let another man go to the legislature in my place.”. The KKK tried to silence a former slave who ended up becoming a Georgia State Legislature to drain the support of Reconstruction policies and to attack the empowerment of the African-American community he represented. As political violence was still a thing in the South the North started to become weary of fighting for equal rights.

As a result of this, racist organizations were founded to wreaked havoc on former slaves. Secret societies in the southern united states, such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Knights of the White Camellia used violence against the blacks. Their goal was often to keep blacks out of politics. Our textbook states, “In other states, where blacks were a majority or where the populations of the two races were almost equal, whites used outright intimidation and violence to undermine the Reconstruction regimes” (Brinkley 368). The people involved in such organizations were using violence to take away the fifteenth amendment right from the former slaves.

The KKK was a white nationalized group that included former veterans, which created the first branch of the group. The Klansmen founded in 1865, in Pulaski, Tennessee, is now known as the birthplace of the KKK. This group dedicated themselves to a campaign of violence to Republican leaders and voters. The KKK targeted many people based on their race or sexuality , including, Gays, Immigrants, African Americans, and Catholics(KKK history). Jim Crow laws,

The American civil war led to the reunion of the South and the North. But, its consequences led the Republicans to take the lead of reconstructing what the war had destroyed especially in the South because it contained larger numbers of newly freed slaves. Just after the civil war, America entered into what was called as the reconstruction era. Reconstruction refers to when “the federal government established the terms on which rebellious Southern states would be integrated back into the Union” (Watts 246). As a further matter, it also meant “the process of helping the 4 million freed slaves after the civil war [to] make the transition to freedom” (DeFord and Schwarz 96).

The American Civil War that was started due to the controversy over slavery in 1861, was won by The Union supported by President Lincoln against the Confederate states. President Lincoln’s original goal during the civil war was to reunify the nation as quickly as possible and help both sides come to an understanding. After the Civil War ended in 1865, the newly formed United States’ reconstruction era began. The Reconstruction era was put into effect by the Congress in 1866 and lasted until 1877. The Union’s victory in the Civil War had given African Americans a new sense of hope, devastated the southern economy, and eased the history of disunity in American political life.

Disenfranchisement is defined as the state of being deprived of a right or privilege, especially the right to vote. People can be disenfranchised from society by rumors, which can lead to social anxiety or agoraphobia, as well as stereotypes that lead to complete isolation to avoid social interaction and judgment, which is also seen throughout

The Reconstruction Era occurred in 1865, it was was a period after the Civil War in which America was focused on rebuilding the broken South. In 1867, the Radical reconstruction gave former slaves a voice in government. During this era, formers slaves gained a platform in the government, with some blacks as Congressmen. However, not everyone supported the idea of Reconstruction. Less than a decade after the Reconstruction period, a small group composed of democratic ex-confederate veterans, white farmers and white southerners sympathetic to white supremacy joined forces together to form the Ku Klux Klan.

To accomplish social equality and justice has been a long controversial issue in U.S. history. Voting Rights Act of 1965 should be understood as a tremendous accomplishment today because it not only represent a symbol of the triumph of fighting social injustice, but also open the first gate for African American and minority to strive for more political power in order to create a “great society.”

As the Ku Klux Klan’s membership grew, organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which fought to end racial discrimination and segregation, grew as well. With these two growing groups pushing for opposite ideals, tensions continued to increase. The NAACP pushed for reform and rights for African Americans and the Ku Klux Klan combated their progress with lynching and

The KKK used violence against Black Freedmen and others who opposed them to show dominance over them. The KKK used violence the stop Black Freedmen from voting so the Democrats could win more elections. After the Civil War the South elected ex-Confederate leaders to office. They denied freedmen the right to vote and passed “Black Codes” to restrict freedmen.

Its main goal was to overthrow the Republican state governments during the Reconstruction era, it accomplished this goal by perpetuating violence against African American leaders in the South. The Second group was brought together in the mid 1910s, this version of the “Klan” flourished nationwide. This was especially true in the urban areas of the Midwest and West. It opposed not only African Americans but also those of the Catholic and Jewish faiths.

The Aryan Brotherhood is a gang that was founded in San Quentin State Prison in 1967. The man who founded the gang was Barry Mills and Tyler Bingham. Barry Mills and Tyler Bingham created the gang to protect white inmates from the predatory black and Mexican inmates. They were beat on randomly by Black Guerilla Family and the Mexican Mafia for either exploitation or no reason at all. Many whites did not like the random beatings, which is how the gang began.

The Ku Klux Klan first emerged in Pulaski, Tennessee following the Civil War. As we know today, the mere mention of the Klan triggers fear as the KKK is known for its various tactics of violence that came in the form if lynchings, murders, and mutilations. Following their emergence, the KKK were quickly symbolized and portrayed as the protectors of the South, following the defeat of the Southern states in the Civil War and the beginning of the period of Reconstruction by the federal government (Gurr, 1989, p. 132). During the 1920s, the KKK achieved its greatest political success and growth outside of the South. During this period, the membership of the Klan heavily expanded to the states of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Oregon, to which the KKK obtained two to two and one-half million members at its apex.

People always want to demand their essential rights from government’s restriction by passing new laws. There was a period when people demanded their rights in the 1900s. Within the United States, most African Americans’ rights were denied by state governments. Hence, in the 1960s, they took a stand on requiring their rights through the Civil Rights movement around the country. During this movement, the Voting Rights Act was significant and for the reason is that this act gave African Americans a chance to participate in US politics by their votes.

They impacted American people and black minorities. The KKK did not allow blacks to vote or get any kind of education. The black people would avoid groups of white people and crowded areas. They struggled with racial discrimination till they had fair and equal treatment. Successful black business were attacked but when protection groups were created they were quickly dealt with.