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The Role of Anti-Civil Rights Groups
The Role of Anti-Civil Rights Groups
The KKK (Ku Klux Klan) up to 1870
Activities characterised by intimidation and lynchings of African Americans.
As well as physical attacks on former slaves, they also attacked Freedmen Bureau workers as their counterparts in the 1960s did to civil rights workers
Formed
1867
1871,
40,000 members
in Tennessee alone. Possibly half a million in the South, however disintegrated in the 1870s. The Federal government withdrew troops from the South which allowed the South to discriminate again, this led to a decrease in the need for the Klan
Intimidated African Americans who attempted to vote, and tried to stop black children attending segregated schools.
KKK 1915 - 1944
Reborn after the film
Birth of a Nation
which portrayed the Klan as heroic in fighting against northern tyranny
Revived Klan spread hostility to Jews, Catholics and foreigners. Also strong membership in some northern states, membership peaked in 1924 with
6 million
Soon declined as a result of a sexual scandal by the 'Grand Wizard' and almost defunct by
1944
KKK 1950 Onwards
Various groups used the same name and methods, but it ceased to be a mass organisation. Klan tradition did remain and there was still a membership
1961, some attacked the
freedom riders
with approval from Southern State police authorities
There was a revival in the 70s, but the execution of a Klan member in
1981
for a lynching
16 years
earlier sent a clear message
Lynchings
More dangerous than formal organisations was the ability of white Americans to organise and publicise lynchings. 2,700 lynchings between
1885 and 1917
Southern authorities did little to stop them, often acquitted or found defendants not guilty
Ida B. Wells
publicly protested lynchings in the New York Post, however her protests caused violence to be directed at her and she was forced to leave.
White Citizens' Councils
Formed after Brown v Board 1954 to protest school desegregation.
Encouraged intimidation of African Americans trying to register to vote and hostile actions against civil rights initiatives.
Declined in the 1960s