This article announces the arrival of the KKK in Grenada, Miss. through the mockery of a black preacher. In the article “Uncle Ike” (older African American men were often called “Uncle” by whites), describes the Klansmen as akin to the ghosts of Confederate soldiers. Klansmen often pretended to be the ghosts of dead Confederates, claiming that “superstitious negroes” feared them as ghostly apparitions. Of course, it is more likely that they were feared because they were armed white supremacists with homicidal proclivities and military training in the Confederate armies.
Note: The article includes the use of demeaning “black dialect” and a racist term.
The Grenada sentinel., March 28, 1868, Image 3
About The Grenada sentinel. (Grenada, Miss.)
Note: Illustration is from a later Klan manifestation.
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Your podcast “Were the Ku Klux Ghosts of Confederate Soldiers? Mississippi 1868” caught my attention, because I am researching connections between the KKK and “ghosts” as part of a much large study of a cultural phenomenon that began right around the start of 1870: “Sheet and Pillowcase” parties, balls, dances, and hops spread around the country. I haven’t finished analyzing my data, but it’s possible that they were less prevalent in the “deep South” (AL, MI, GA…) than elsewhere.
Sheets were worn as a form of “white masquerade” (probably without a racial intention), with the pillowcases wrapped around the head like kerchiefs, and with an additional mask for the face. So far, in hundreds of these between 1870-1890, there is no suggestion that the KKK was part of the picture.
Thirty years later, however, at least one person referred to an anticipated KKK visit as a “sheet and pillowcase party”!
My raw data, with occasional annotations are organized on the listed website. If you have any comments on this, please let me know?