In the 1870s, southern Democrats began to muster more political power as former Confederates began to vote again. It was a movement that gathered energy up until the Compromise of 1877, in the process known as the Redemption. White Democratic Southerners saw themselves as redeeming the South by regaining power. They appealed to scalawags (white Southerners who supported the Republican Party after the civil war and during the time of reconstruction). More importantly, in a second wave of violence following the suppression of the Ku Klux Klan, violence began to increase in the Deep South. In 1868 white terrorists tried to prevent Republicans from winning the fall election in Louisiana. Over a few days, they killed some two hundred freedmen in St. Landry Parish. Other violence erupted, From April to October, there were 1,081 political murders in Louisiana, in which most of the victims were freedmen.[2] Violence was part of campaigns prior to the election of 1872 in several states. In 1874 and 1875, more formal paramilitary groups affiliated with the Democratic Party conducted intimidation, terrorism and violence against black voters and their allies to reduce Republican voting and turn officeholders out. These included the White League and Red Shirts. They worked openly for specific political ends, and often solicited coverage of their activities by the press. Every election from 1868 on was surrounded by intimidation and violence; they were usually marked by fraud as well. …show more content…
This situation contributed to the Colfax Massacre of 1873, in which white Democratic militia killed more than 100 Republican blacks in a confrontation over control of parish offices. Three whites died in the
Nicholas Lemann begins his book “Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War” with the 1873 Colfax, Louisiana massacre where a White League militia comprised of former Confederate soldiers killed black Republican voters. The Colfax massacre was perhaps the bloodiest event of Reconstruction. Lemann views this event as a startup of what would happen later in Mississippi if Federal troops did not defend black voters. Lemann blames Ulysses S. Grant’s Secretary of War, William W. Belknap, for not stopping the White Line activity in Louisiana and Mississippi. Grant had worked hard to stop the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1870s with Congress passing legislation and Federal troops putting down Klan activity.
Terrorism was a key tool for white racists in the south to keep blacks from voting. Political and economic policies for voting also kept blacks effectively disenfranchised (Freedom Summer). This environment lead to the
Between the years 1868 and 1878, the Republican Radicals controlled most of the states in the South. This control was affected by an unstable alliance of three groups: freedmen, carpetbaggers, and scalawags. These groups took advantage of the fact that the South's former leaders were not allowed to hold office or vote. The carpetbaggers were Northerners who descended on the South. Some were adventurers; others sought honest business and political opportunities; still others wanted to help the former slaves.
There were even paramilitary organizations; Brinkley says, “the Red Shirts and White Leagues armed themselves to ‘police’ elections and worked to force all white males to join the democratic party” (368). On the other hand, these organizations worked to keep white men on their side and against the newly freed slave population. As a consequence of the aggressive actions taken, the former slaves’ rights were not properly protected during the Reconstruction
Some Democrats even instigated riots at Republican rallies in order to reduce quantity of black residents.
The Colfax Massacre, also known as the Colfax Riot, took place in the small town of Colfax, Louisiana, on April 13th, 1873. This occurred during an ongoing feud between opposing political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. On this day in history, a mob of white Democratic rebels, including Union and ex-Confederate soldiers, launched an attack on the Grant Parish Courthouse. This Courthouse was the center of civilian life within the community.
Police officers are entitled to care and protect the citizens of the country? In recent news, white male police officers have corrupted their use of power and used unnecessary, excessive force against African American males. Police brutality with African Americans resulted in the Walter Scott case, Michael Brown case, Trayvon Martin Case, and Eric Garner case. The following cases are referred to as racist to the public because of white male police officers are doing avoidable acts to African American males. The justifications induced rioting and protesting in the community of the African American males.
While racial attitudes and “Reconstruction weariness” contributed to the collapse of Reconstruction efforts, the use of violence against whites and blacks combined with the belief in white supremacy played the
Groups such as the Ku Klux Klan became prominent in the south. however, this was no longer something reconstruction could help former slaves with. Eventually, Hayes was elected after Johnsons’ impeachment and the Reconstruction era ended. The reconstruction ended in 1877 due to the Compromise of 1877 and the pulling of republicans alongside union troops out of the deep south. though the reconstruction attempted to unify the country back together as one by allowing confederate states into the union under strict conditions, and to help former slaves by granting basic human rights there were still many issues present throughout the
One subject that is always being contemplated on is the media 's double standard when it comes to minorities. When Caucasian people have a riot it is not really talked down on because, it happens after games are lost in sports. However, when African Americans protest after a horrible event, they are looked down on and instead of it being called a protest on injustices, the media makes it seem like it is a riot over nothing and African Americans are just acting out. like what a man named Steven Crowder did on his blog. Instead of looking into the real reason blacks were rioting.
But, when these officials were elected to Congress, they passed the “black codes” and thus the relations between the president and legislators became worst (Schriefer, Sivell and Arch R1). These so called “Black Codes” were “a series of laws to deprive blacks of their constitutional rights” that they were enacted mainly by Deep South legislatures. Black Codes differ from a state to another but they were stricter in the Deep South as they were sometimes irrationally austere. (Hazen 30) Furthermore, with the emergence of organizations such as the Red Shirts and the White League with the rise of the Conservative White Democrats’ power, efforts to prevent Black Americans from voting were escalating (Watts 247), even if the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S constitution that gave the Blacks the right to vote had been ratified in 1870.
Americans have ”Freedom” most other countries and continents of people do except Africans. To start off conflicts in Africa are caused by the “fight 's” for their rights to independence and rule over their own countries. Independence was not known of until 1994 in Africa. This was the start of Europeans coming over to take African countries to expand their own countries. Violent conflict is unavoidable in Africa and this is because the African countries fight over power, since Africa has proven that conflict is unavoidable.
Southern Republicans synchronized with the blasting economy of the South and the clearing political changes in the district to develop as the prevailing party in the South. The impoverished South of the 1870s had offered route to a prosperous Modern South of metropolitan urban communities, agribusiness, industrial plants, tourism, and service industries. Blacks had picked up the vote and the entrance to open office that they were denied to before, and this time their hold on office appeared to be more secure. Politicians of the Democratic Party in the South were moving far from white
Frederickson argues African Americans simply did not have the time or preparation to oppose racist forces. Using paramilitary forces, southern redeemers easily made threats to reconstruction forces as seen through the emergence of the violent Ku Klux Klan during the election of 1866. The opportunity for African Americans to gain a stance in society was short lived by the racist efforts of democrats in the south and impartial ideals from
An NAACP field worker, the Reverend George Lee, was shot and murdered at point blank range while driving in his car after attempting to vote in Belzoni. A few weeks later in Brookhaven, Lamar Smith was shot and murdered, ahead of the county courthouse in broad daylight and before witnesses, after casting his vote. Both were active in black voter registering ambitions. No one was detained in association with either murder. This incident wasn’t the first but it was one of the most well known as the image of the brutalized face of Emmett Till was publicised.