The Horrors of the Ku Klux Klan during the Reconstruction Era
During the Reconstruction era, politics was a catalyst for widespread racism and hatred that former slaves experienced throughout the South. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), founded by a Confederate general in 1866, became known as the “invisible empire of the South” in which members represented the ghosts of the Confederate dead returning to terrorize, suppress, and victimize African Americans and Radical Republicans (white reformers) (Gale Encyclopedia of American Law, 2011). From 1868 through the early 1870s the Ku Klux Klan functioned as a loosely organized group of political and social terrorists. The Klan 's goals included the political defeat of the Republican Party and the maintenance …show more content…
Davie Jeems, a black Republican, had been elected sheriff in Lincoln County, Georgia. Shortly after his election to office, a notice was posted publically by an anonymous KKK member. This was intended as a scare tactic for Jeems to leave the Republican Party and join the Democratic Party or suffer the consequences. The tone of the document evokes a ghostly menacing presence with apparent threat, which was a common practice among Klansmen. They disguised themselves and pretended to be ghosts to scare the African Americans who were superstitious; and to avoid revealing their identity. As one reads the document, the contents become even more frightening because the author stated that Jeems is being watched. Despite the threats, there is a note on the back that Jeems is elected sheriff and that similar threats from the KKK had prevented other republicans from taking their offices. The Ku Klux Klan’s threat to Jeems was an approach used to disqualify black Republicans from exercising their right to vote, which would eventually weaken blacks and white reformers and ultimately, the Republican …show more content…
The letter written to Davie Jeems did not only threaten to kill him, but stated that the dead Confederate soldiers had “returned to this country to make you and all the rest of the radicals good Democrats and vote right with the white people or leave this country…” Their aim was to terrorize the freed blacks in order to scare them into voting Democrat after being granted freedom by a radically reconstructive Congress. However, if the Freedmen and radicals did not comply, death would be the next alternative. This is supported with the Klansman’s threat of nailing Davie Jeems and Platt Madison along with all the other radicals in boxes – this clearly implies impending murder if they refuse to comply with the demands of the KKK. Davie Jeems could not have escaped such atrocity since the document states that he was being
During the Reconstruction era, politics was a catalyst for widespread racism and hatred that former slaves experienced throughout the South. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), founded by a Confederate general in 1866, became known as the “invisible empire of the South” in which members represented the ghosts of the Confederate dead returning to terrorize, suppress, and victimize African Americans and Radical Republicans (white reformers) (Gale Encyclopedia of American Law, 2011). From 1868 through the early 1870s the Ku Klux Klan functioned as a loosely organized group of political and social terrorists. The Klan 's goals included the political defeat of the Republican Party and the maintenance …show more content…
Davie Jeems, a black Republican, had been elected sheriff in Lincoln County, Georgia. Shortly after his election to office, a notice was posted publically by an anonymous KKK member. This was intended as a scare tactic for Jeems to leave the Republican Party and join the Democratic Party or suffer the consequences. The tone of the document evokes a ghostly menacing presence with apparent threat, which was a common practice among Klansmen. They disguised themselves and pretended to be ghosts to scare the African Americans who were superstitious; and to avoid revealing their identity. As one reads the document, the contents become even more frightening because the author stated that Jeems is being watched. Despite the threats, there is a note on the back that Jeems is elected sheriff and that similar threats from the KKK had prevented other republicans from taking their offices. The Ku Klux Klan’s threat to Jeems was an approach used to disqualify black Republicans from exercising their right to vote, which would eventually weaken blacks and white reformers and ultimately, the Republican …show more content…
The letter written to Davie Jeems did not only threaten to kill him, but stated that the dead Confederate soldiers had “returned to this country to make you and all the rest of the radicals good Democrats and vote right with the white people or leave this country…” Their aim was to terrorize the freed blacks in order to scare them into voting Democrat after being granted freedom by a radically reconstructive Congress. However, if the Freedmen and radicals did not comply, death would be the next alternative. This is supported with the Klansman’s threat of nailing Davie Jeems and Platt Madison along with all the other radicals in boxes – this clearly implies impending murder if they refuse to comply with the demands of the KKK. Davie Jeems could not have escaped such atrocity since the document states that he was being