Freedmen in the South and Rise of the KKK
Dec 24, 2015
Freedmen in the Southand Rise of the
KKK
Freedmen's Memorial to Abraham Lincoln by Thomas Ball
Freedmen's Memorial to Abraham Lincoln Thomas Ball
• freedom a gift from white men• Lincoln= figure who lifts slaves from
servitude with his words• Lincoln- clothes, slave- partially nude
indicating he is a slave• commissioned by African Americans• design chose by white men
Freedom from African American Viewpoint
• Acquisitions of rights and protections
• How?- redistribute propertyor- legal equality
• Freedom from white control- schools-churches-aid societies
"Northern Coat of Arms."
Black feet emerge from beneath a Phrygian
liberty cap-- which was worn by newly freed
slaves in Ancient Rome. The cap is faintly embroidered with
several stars, an eagle with an olive branch,
and the word "Liberty." At first glance, this may seem a fairly humorous
image, but the underlying message is unmistakable: freedom
is too great a responsibility for
African-Americans.
Southern White interpretation of Freedom
• Restore life to antebellum days- legally tie Blacks to the plantation- keep white supremacy
• No interference from the Federal Government and the North
an idealized image of the Freedmen's Bureau from
Harper's Weekly from 1868
The Freedman’s Bureau• established by Congress March 3, 1865• the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and
Abandoned Lands, AKA Freedmen’s Bureau• Original life span one year
- July 16, 1866, Congress extended the life of the bureau over the veto of President Andrew Johnson
• Goals- provide food, medical care, help with resettlement, administer
justice, manage abandoned and confiscated property, regulate labor, and establish schools
Failures of the Bureau• 850,000 acres of abandoned and confiscated
land given to freedmen,- President Andrew Johnson returned
the land to Confederate owners. • encouraged freedmen to work on plantations
- eventually led to oppressive sharecropping and tenancy arrangements.
• 1869- Congress terminated all of the bureau’s work except for its efforts in education
- education efforts ended in 1870
Harpers Weekly Commentary:
April 14, 1866, Thomas Nast drew a
cartoon of "The Grand Masquerade Ball" featuring large sketches of many of the celebrities of the
day. Andrew Johnson is pictured
kicking out the Freedmen’s Bureau with his veto, with
scattered black people coming out
of it.
The Crop-Lien System
• allowed farmers to receive commodities such as food, supplies, seeds, etc. on loan (or credit)
• pay this debt back after their crop was harvested and sold.
- there was a lien against the crop- amount of credit was based on the
estimated value of the crop
Problems with Crop-Lien
• mistakes in valuing the crop• a bad crop year meant longer
indebtedness • merchants could often control the prices of
the supplies and therefore, the debt • many Blacks lost land due to debt• tied in to planting and selling cotton:
depleting land and preventing diversification
Politics• Carpetbaggers
- Northern Republicans- move South- cashed in on S. distress
• Scalawags- Southern Republicans- viewed as traitors
• African Americans begin to exercise their right to vote
• Run for political office- state legislature- US House and Senate- no Governors
1868, Blacks dominated the
Louisiana Legislature during
Reconstruction. The militarily conquered Whites of the South
were denied all Constitutional Rights; they could not vote, run for public office,
or hold Civil positions. They were
denied redress of grievances, yet, were
forced to pay excessive taxes to pay for the war.
Negro poll watcher oversees election in which only Blacks, scalawags, and carpetbaggers could
vote.
Black congressmen from the late-
1800s. Among those depicted is the first African American to serve in the
United States Senate, Hiram Revels of Mississippi, far left, who served in the
41st Congress from 1869 to 1871.
Ku Klux Klan:Founded in 1866 by
Nathan Bedford ForrestLatin for
“family circle”
"The Union As It Was,"
representatives of the Ku Klux Klan and the White
League shake hands over a cowering black family. In the background on the right is a burning school
house, a stark contrast to Nast's depiction of the
school in his earlier drawing. In the left
background a lynching victim hangs from a tree.
The Rise of the KKK
Ku Klux Klan Costumes,
1868, The KKK's hooded
costumes were meant to
protect the anonymity of its members and
promote fear of an "unknown" terror among blacks. The
costumes were also crucial to
the KKK's desire to invoke the rituals and
traditions of secret white,
male brotherhoods of
the past.
Ku Klux Klan
• 1866• terrorism, violence,
and acts of intimidation, such as cross burning and lynching
• Goal: end Black political power and Black voting
A cartoon threatening that the KKK would lynch carpetbaggers, Tuscaloosa, Alabama,
Independent Monitor, 1868
K.K.K.: Secret Society that opposed African American Civil Rights by using violence and terror
Ku Klux KlanFormer Confederate soldiers founded the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) after the American Civil War (1861-1865). The KKK used violence and intimidation to prevent blacks from voting and holding office, and to keep them segregated.
@#$!@#$!
Klansmen when he gets to
heaven
Ha Ha Ha HaHa Ha Ha HaHe He He HeHo Ho Ho Ho
Barry Black, a Klan leader has described cross burning as "a
very sacred ritual.""We don't light [the cross] to
desecrate it," he told the Roanoke Times in 1999. "We light it to show that Christ is
still alive." The burning symbolizes the "burning away
of evil."
Federal Government v. KKK
• 1870, 1871• 2 Enforcement Acts (AKA KKK Acts)• cannot discriminate against voters based
on race• federal govt. can prosecute instead of
state court• President can use military to enforce and
can suspend habeas corpus• by 1872 Klan violence was in decline