According to the book, The Negro Pilgrimage In America, by C.L. Lincoln, “Segregation presented the poor white with a psychological release so strong that he simply overlooked the common lot he shared with the Negro. Awarded social certification as the Negro’s superior, the poor white flaunted the “white supremacy” code because it artificially inflated his position in society.” During those times, most Southern white people were Democrats.
Almost every Southern institution was committed to white supremacy. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was the most notorious organization in the doctrines enforcement. The Klan was organized in Pulaski, Tennessee in 1865 by Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, a former slave trader and notorious commander of the Fort Pillow massacre. The Klan became the self-appointed preserver of the Southern way of life.
Even outside the South, some white Americans found ways to keep black people in their place. After Congress introduced the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery, white- on- black violence intensified in the North. In the South, members of the KKK, dressed in white -hooded robes, galloped on horseback to the homes of Black political leaders and their supporters who tried to vote, those who were economically comfortable, or those who did not show submission to whites. These violent attackers’ dragged black people out of their homes, whipped, tortured and murdered them. They were known to lynch black people by hanging them from trees. Southern officials looked the other way.
There were many other white supremacist groups but the KKK was the longest and most notorious. This group used violence and intimidation to keep black people and white Republicans from voting. In 1866, white people invaded the black community in my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. When newly discharged black soldiers and local freedmen defended themselves, forty six blacks and two whites were killed.
One of the Klan’s purposes was to reduce the black vote and restore control of Southern governments to whites. During those times, most black people voted for Republicans. Klan tactics helped end Republican Party control. Terrified black voters stayed away from the polls. Churches and schools were not exempt from their murderous acts of terror. Ministers and teachers were killed. Klansmen also harassed and murdered a few poor Southern white citizens who supported socialist groups and advocated for racial equality.
In spite of these cowardly acts, many black Southerners refused to be intimidated. The fact that black people held political office infuriated white Southern Democrats. They were determined to reinstate the racial control of the prewar South, prevent black education and economic development. Violence was there signature. Black people did not submit, they used their power to enforce the law and protect themselves and their communities.
Francie Mae. August 28, 2021
References
C. Eric Lincoln. November 1967. The Negro Pilgrimage In America. Bantam Pathfinder Books.
James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton. 2005. Slavery And The Making of America. Oxford University Press, Inc. New York.