The Ku Klux Klan was a group that constantly threatened, harassed, murdered, and abused African Americans and supporters of racial equality. The first group was formed in 1866 by six Confederate veterans in Tennessee, and more groups quickly formed afterwards. The Klan operated under a belief that all their actions were purely for self-preservation and self-defense. Nevertheless history reveals that the Ku Klux Klan did not only strive for “self-preservation” but to turn back the clock to a time of slavery. Their attempt at success caused the Klan to implement tactics of guerrilla warfare. Klansmen wanted slavery to be revived so the Klan continually targeted all African Americans exercising rights and privileges that they did not have before the civil war. For example Klansmen found it offensive that blacks were receiving an education, so many of the African American schools were bombed and burned. Furthermore the Klan used tactics as extreme as forcing a man’s wife to watch as his throat was cut. In less than five years the number of political killings reached the thousands, and this proved to be effective, “Ulysses S. Grant received no votes at all in 1868 in eleven counties, despite black majorities” (575). The Federal Government finally interfered in 1870 and 1871 by passing laws that limited the Klan’s power. However this did not stop the violence. The Klan continued to operate and other groups began to strike fear into the hearts of African Americans as well.
1. Why was the Ku Klux Klan so appealing to White Southerners?
2. Did the Klan succeed in their objectives?
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