The Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan was a white underground terrorist group. They would not accept black people as equal citizens. They also wanted revenge for the defeat of the South. The KKK created a wave of terror among blacks and those whites who tried to help them. Many important politicians, officials and even police officers supported the Klan. Sometimes blacks were stopped from voting by being beaten up. Black sharecroppers had their crops stolen or destroyed.

The main aim of the Klan was to ensure white supremacy. It was very successful. The Klan's campaign of terror, including threats of violence and murder, terrified many black people so that they did not register to vote. Black and white politicians were afraid to stand up for the rights of black citizens. The power and determination of Southern whites destroyed the hopes of black people and brought the period of Reconstruction to an end. Many blacks in the South were hardly better off than when they had been slaves. Once again black Americans had to realise that they woud have to struggle against racial discrimination in order to gain fair and equal treatment.

Nigel Smith: Black peoples of the Americas; Oxford University Press, 1992/2000, page 39