Southern White Supremacists Return to Viciously Rule

During Reconstruction (1865-1877), free Blacks gained the legal right to marry, own land, vote, and sign contracts. Federal troops offered some protection for Black men to hold office and vote, while the Freedmen’s Bureau provided schools and legal aid. However, following the federal troop withdrawal in 1877, white supremacists soon ruled the Southern states with violence and speed.

In 1865, former Confederate soldiers founded a secret fraternal society in Tennessee to restore white supremacy. The Ku Klux Klan used violence, intimidation, and terror to target free Black Americans and their allies. Lynching, arson, suppressing Black political participation, and ending all civil rights took place.

The White League emerged in Louisiana and Mississippi between 1874 and 1876. It was a white supremacist paramilitary organization with two goals. They wished to overthrow Southern Republican governments and became the military arm of the Democratic Party. Their tactics included armed attacks, intimidation, and election fraud.

The Red Shirts began in Mississippi in 1875 and spread to the Carolinas. The red shirt mocked Republican rhetoric about “waving the bloody shirt” and caused fear. Their actions included voting intimidation at polling places, armed presence at rallies, assassinations, and voter suppression. They meant to restore Democratic control to pave the way for Jim Crow laws.

Next week, we will look at the Exoduster movement and the freedom colonies that emerged from Jim Crow and the end of Reconstruction.