Category: White Terror
Black Troops Engage in Anti-Klan Operations in Tennesee in February 1868
The Klan did not simply run roughshod over the countryside in 1868. Army detachments, including black U.S. soldiers, were sent to combat the Klan. One…
“Threats Against Teachers of Colored Schools” by the Klan Tennessee March 1868
Freedmen’s schools were an early and frequent target of the Ku Klux Klan. This article reports that the teachers of black children were being expelled…
Negro School Burned by White Men-Outrages of the KuKlux Klans Tennessee Feb. 1868
A particular target of white terror groups were black schoolhouses. The schoolhouse and the church were often the most visible outward signs of the free…
The First Time the Ku Klux Klan Was Covered in a National Newspaper Was for a Murder Jan. 18, 1868
While the Ku Klux Klan would later claim that it had begun life on Christmas Eve, 1865, historians now believe it started six months later….
Remembering the Massacre of African Americans in Atlanta in 1906
Atlanta used to call itself “The City Too Busy to Hate,” implying that if things slowed down, watch out! The “Too Busy to Hate” nickname…
Wade Hampton & South Carolina Democrats Call for a Halt to Assassinations Nov. 1868
Following a series of assassinations of Republicans during the weeks leading up to the Nov. 1868 elections, the South Carolina Democratic Committee issued a call…
“The White Race of the South Will Constitute One Army” Attacking Reconstruction November 1868
No Southern newspaper did more to encourage secession in 1860 than the Charleston Mercury. After the war, it became a fiery opponent of Reconstruction and…
Elaine Massacre of 1919 Memorialized in Arkansas Recalling Mass Killing of Black Families
1919 was a year of extreme racial violence in America. The “Red Summer” of that year saw what may have been the largest massacre of…
Ku Klux Soda Fountain in Pulaski Tenn. August, 1868
Pulaski, Tn. is usually considered the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan. In the hottest days of 1868, as a campaign of White Terror was…
In May 1869 Republican Refugees Fled to Atlanta
Increasing violence in 1868 and 1869 led some white Republicans to flee the Southern countryside for the protection of Federal garrisons. This story recounts the…