1 This cartoon depicts conditions A before the

1. This cartoon depicts conditions A. before the Civil War. B. during the Civil War. C. during Reconstruction. D. None of the above 2. Which of the following did the Ku Klux Klan believe? A. African Americans should not vote or. hold office. B. African Americans had a right to an education. C. White Southerners were better off after the Civil War. D. The courts were the best place to resolve racial differences. 3. The KKK and the White League intimidated blacks through A. lynching. B. burning schools and churches. C. murder. D. All of the above 4. What point of view does this cartoon present? A. It favors the Ku Klux Klan. B. It is neutral toward the Reconstruction South. C. It opposes the Ku Klux Klan. D. It was a recruitment poster for the Ku Klux Klan.

Reconstruction in the

Due to the Radical Republicans desire to punish the South, Many whites were frustrated by their loss of political power and by the South’s economic stagnation; took out their anger on African American. Certain groups embarked on a campaign to terrorize African American into giving up their political rights and their efforts at economic improvement. The opposition to Reconstruction begins… The Collapse of Reconstruction

Reconstruction or Nadir • The system that replaced Reconstruction in the South was one of racial segregation and white supremacy. • African Americans were destroyed of their basic political and civil rights until the Civil Rights Movement. • Some Historians refer this period as the “Nadir” or low point in American race relations.

The Collapse of Reconstruction • The Radical Republicans were in charge of Reconstruction, life in the South changed again. • New state constitution were written, new state legislatures were elected. African American were voting for the first time and there was more than 600 African Americans elected to state legislatures. • Reconstruction brought violent opposition throughout the South • White citizens formed private groups, supposedly to keep order in the South. The rise of the Ku Klux Klan a. k. a KKK formed at Tennessee in 1866 and soon began terrorizing African Americans and whites who were loyal to the Union. Violence against blacks was rarely prosecuted.

Ku Klux Klan - secret group set up in the South founded by veterans of the Confederate Army to fight against Reconstruction. Members terrorized primarily African-Americans. Their methods included threats, house burnings, and killings(lynching) against not only blacks but whites as well who were loyal to the Union. The idea behind the terror was to keep African Americans from voting and to better themselves.

The (First) Ku Klux Klan 1865 -1874 Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, CSA Vigilantism

“Boy, You ain’t a votin’ here”!

The “Invisible Empire of the South”

The Failure of Federal Enforcement Acts of 1870 & 1871 [also Act]. known as the KKK Three Enforcement Acts were passed, setting heavy penalties for anyone attempting to prevent a qualified person from voting. They banned the use of disguises and gave the army and federal courts power to capture and punish KKK members. While the KKK was soon brought under control, other groups continued to operate

Decrease in the Klan’s activities In late 1870 s, the reason for the reduction in Klan violence was the Klan’s own success. By 1880, terrorist groups had managed to restore white supremacy throughout the South. The Klan was no longer needed to limit the political and civil rights of most African Americans.

CONGRESS SUPPORT FADES • When Congress passed the Amnesty Act (1872) returning voting rights to 150, 000 Confederates and allowed the Freedmen’s Bureau to expire—it became clear that Southern Democrats were back in political control

The Panic of 1873 Caused loss of Interest in the South • Farmers were unable to pay debts and railroads had laid too many tracks without enough customers. People lost trust in currency other than gold and tried to trade their money for gold. Silver mines closed due to the low interest in the metal. Due to these and other issues, thousands of businesses and hundreds of banks closed. • The government began paying less & less attention to the problems of prejudice, discrimination and racial harassment. • The concern for economic reform quickly replaced concern for social reform.

The Panic of 1873 • By the 1870 s, many Northerners were tired of Reconstruction. The nation’s economy was not doing well. People were worried about having jobs and earning enough money to live. They turned away from the problems of African • African Americans in the Americans. South felt abandoned by the North

Compromise of 1877 Republicans withdrawn troops from the South to gain Hayes the presidency in 1876. DISPUTED ELECTION By 1876, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida were the only states that still had garrisons of federal troops supporting the Republican state governments through force of arms. All three states had disputed election returns due to massive fraud by both parties. An Electoral Commission, voting on party lines, certified the election for Hayes, who had been twenty votes shy of victory (while Tilden had been only one vote shy). Democrats in Congress staged a filibuster in protest, but a compromise was reached in which the Democrats would accept the result in return for the removal of federal troops from the South and a promise from Hayes not to intervene in the Southern states’ internal politics (i. e. , not enforcing the Fifteenth Amendment). 184 166 Rutherford B. Reconstruction was over and so Samuel were the Tilden Hayes hopes and dreams of millions of(D-NY) former slaves. (R-OH) Without the presence of the Union Army“Rutherfraud to combat terrorism, the rights of Southern ” African-Americans were greatly jeopardized. 185

DEMOCRATS “REDEEM SOUTH” • With the termination of military rule, the remaining Republican-controlled governments were swept out of office. • Southern issues caused Democrats to regain control of the South • Called “Redeemers” these politicians were out to reclaim Southern Culture and tradition • The Reconstruction Era was over • The South remained resentful of the Republican Party, and for the next 75 years the former Confederate states (the Solid South) voted almost consistently for Democratic Party.

The 1876 elections brought an end to Republican influence in Southern states government. They restricted the rights of voting of freed slaves. Southern laws set up a: • Literacy Tests • Tests designed to keep blacks from voting by requiring predominantly uneducated African Americans to prove they could read and write before allowing them to vote. • They were designed to disfranchise educated blacks as well by asking questions most people, white and black, could not answer.

Poll Taxes • Special taxes passed in the South after Reconstruction to prevent blacks from voting by requiring them to pay a tax to vote.

Grandfather Clause • In order to help poor, illiterate whites to vote, a grandfather clause was passed. • It stated that if a voter’s father or grandfather was eligible to vote on January 1, 1867, they did not have to take a literacy test. A citizen could vote only if his grandfather had been able to vote. • This allowed whites to vote, but not freedmen. The grandfathers of black men in the South had been slaves with no right to vote. Dr. Manassa Thomas Pope was able to receive a voter registration card because his parents had been freed prior to 1867. He was one of only seven black voters in Raleigh and one of 31 in all of Wake County, NC.

The Jim Crow Laws: the “Nadir” in Race Relations Stop African Americans from voting • Literacy tests- a voter had to be able to read and write • Poll taxes-registration fees for voting. It was a burden to the poor. • Grandfather Causes- No man could vote if his grandfather had not been able to vote before the civil war Racial Segregation: Jim Crow • Segregation laws which separated blacks from whites in schools, railroads, restaurants and other public places • Denied black citizens equal opportunities and rights • This is considered the period as “Nadir”, or lowest point in American race relations

“Jim Crow” America

Plessy v. Ferguson Segregation Challenged (1896)

In 1896; the US Supreme Court upheld Jim Crow laws Plessy vs. Ferguson: • What? Homer Plessey tries to sit i a whites-only train car and refuses to move. • He was arrested; tried; and convicted for breaking Louisiana’s segregation law • Plessey claimed he had been denied equal protection under the law • How did the Supreme Court Rule? Segregation is ok as long as the facilities are equal • SEPARATE BUT EQUAL • Impact: Made Jim Crow Laws Leg

The Reality

The End of Reconstruction • The North loses interest after economic depression in 1873 • Rutherford B. Hayes withdraws troops in a deal to win the disputed 1877 Presidential election. • Southern Democrats return to power. • KKK and other groups terrorize African Americans • Reconstruction had failed to gain equal rights for African Americans.

Legacy of Reconstruction (Reconstruction was not complete failure) « The Thirteenth Amendment permanently abolished slavery in all states. « Radical Republicans did succeed in passing the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, and although the Supreme Court narrowed the interpretation of the amendments, they remained part of the Constitution. In later years, these amendments would be used to strength African American’s rights. « African Americans had founded many black colleges and volunteer organizations « The percentage of literate African Americans had gradually increased.

The End