Black Resistance to the Ku Klux Klan in the Wake of Civil War

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The end of the Civil War left a fearful and resentful South struggling to understand the changes the war had wrought. Southerners seeking a focus for their anger quickly drew a bead on recently emancipated blacks. Former slaves became targets of violence, and chief among the perpetrators was the newly formed Ku Klux Klan. Some of the victims of the Klan’s terrorist campaign turned to armed resistance and retaliation as their only resort.Focusing on the years of the Reconstruction, this volume examines the actions of the Ku Klux Klan between the years of 1865 and 1899. It explores how the organization sponsored and promoted violence against former slaves, and how that violence eventually led to the formation of armed defensive units, which in some instances engaged in retaliatory action. The author considers both the history and the sociology behind these events, recognizing the attempts of both sides to build a society that reflected their own sense of justice and morality. The appendices provide excerpts from a variety of primary sources including contemporary newspaper articles, correspondence and personal diaries.