Reconstruction and Resistance: Black Codes and the Ku Klux Klan Primary Source Set
Seven images that showcase the legacy of Reconstruction.
Guiding Questions
- What were the experiences of African Americans during Reconstruction?
- How did Reconstruction impact the lives of formerly enslaved people and their families?
Objectives
- I can analyze primary sources related to Black Codes.
- I can analyze primary sources related to the Ku Klux Klan.
- I can discuss how violence affected the lives of formerly enslaved people.
“The Union As It Was”, Thomas Nast, 1874
Background Information
Thomas Nast was a well-known political cartoonist who created drawings for Harper’s Weekly, a popular magazine in New York that shared news, stories, and illustrations. In 1874, Nast made the following image for Harper’s Weekly. In his drawing, he shows a member of the White League and a member of the Ku Klux Klan shaking hands over a shield with the words “The Lost Cause.” An African American mother and father hold their dead child under a skull, while a schoolhouse burns and a man is being lynched in the background.
| Text | Vocabulary and Context |
| “The Lost Cause” | A historical interpretation of the Civil War that mythologizes the Confederacy as nobly defending a traditional way of life against northern aggressors |
| White League | A group formed in the southern United States in 1874 that used threats and violence to try to stop Black men from voting and to prevent political groups they disagreed with, like the Republican Party, from organizing. |
| Ku Klux Klan” | A group formed after the Civil War in the United States. Its members believed in white supremacy, meaning they thought white people were better than people of other races. The KKK used violence, threats, and fear to try to control and harm Black people and other groups they did not like. Their goal was to stop Black people from having the same rights, like voting, and to keep control over communities, especially in the southern United States. |
| Lynching | An event where a group of people, often driven by hate or prejudice, illegally kill someone, usually by hanging, without a fair trial or legal process. It was often used in American history to terrorize and harm African Americans and other minority groups. |
“The Union As It Was”, Thomas Nast, 1874
Louisiana Separate Car Act, 1890
Background Information
Before the Reconstruction Era, Louisiana was a unique southern state. Like other southern states, slavery was common in Louisiana before the Civil War. However, because of Louisiana’s unique history and culture, Black and white people generally lived together more peacefully there than in other parts of the South. But when Reconstruction ended, Louisiana became more like other southern states. It passed Black Codes and Jim Crow laws to limit the rights of African Americans and to keep Black and white people separate.
Louisiana Separate Car Act, 1890
| Text | Vocabulary and Context |
| Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Louisiana, That all railway companies carrying passengers in their coaches in this State, shall provide | enacted: Made into a law or rule.
General Assembly: The group of |
| equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races . . . No person or persons shall be permitted to occupy seats in coaches other than the ones assigned to them on account of the race they belong to. | equal but separate accommodations: This means people had the same services, like train rides, but they were separated by race. These accommodations were often not truly equal.colored races: An outdated term used in the 1800s and 1900s to describe Black people and other racial minorities. |
| Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, etc., That the officers of such passenger trains shall have power and are hereby required to assign each passenger to the coach or compartment used for the race to which such passenger belongs; any passenger insisting on going into a coach or compartment to which by race he does not belong, shall be liable to a fine of twenty-five dollars or in lieu thereof to imprisonment for a period of not more than twenty days in the parish [county] prison and any officer of any railroad insisting on assigning a passenger to a coach or compartment other than the one set aside for the race to which said passenger belongs shall be liable to a fine of twenty-five dollars or in lieu thereof imprisonment for a period of not more than twenty days in the parish prison; and should any passenger refuse to occupy the coach or compartment to which he or she is assigned by the officer of such railway, said officer shall have power to refuse to carry such passenger on his train, and for such refusal neither he nor the railway | compartment: A separate section or space, like a part of a train car.
liable to a fine: Could be made to pay money as a punishment. parish: A division of territory and local government in Louisiana, similar to a county in in lieu: Instead of something; as a replacement. |
| company which he represents shall be liable for damages in any of the courts of this State. | damages: Money a person might demand in court if they feel they were treated unfairly. |
Analysis Questions
- What does the law require train companies to do?
- What happens if a passenger sits in the wrong section?
- What happens if a train worker lets someone sit in the wrong section?
- How might these restrictions have impacted the day-to-day lives of African Americans?
An Act to Confer Civil Rights on Freedmen, and for other
Purposes, 1865 (Mississippi Black Code)
Background Information
After the Civil War, the federal government tried to help African Americans become fully part of society. However, many people in the South resisted these efforts. States like Mississippi made their own laws to define the rights of formerly enslaved people. While some rights were protected, there were important exceptions that made life difficult and unjust for African Americans.
An Act to Confer Civil Rights on Freedmen, and for other Purposes, 1865
(Mississippi Black Code)
| Text | Vocabulary and Context |
| All freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes may . . . acquire personal property shall not be so construed as to allow any freedman, free negro or mulatto to rent or lease any lands. . . . | freedmen: Former enslaved people.
mulattoes: People of mixed race, specifically of European and African or African American descent. |
| All freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes may intermarry with each other . . . and it shall not be lawful for any freedman, free negro or mulatto to intermarry with any white person. |
intermarry: To marry someone from a different race |
| Every freedman if living in any incorporated city, town, or village, [may acquire] a license from that mayor thereof; authorizing him or her to do irregular and job work . . . which license may be revoked for cause at any time by the authority granting the same. . . . | |
| All idle persons or persons practicing unlawful games or plays or lascivious [sexual behavior that is considered crude or immoral] persons, in speech or behavior persons who neglect their calling or employment, misspend what they earn habitually misspend their time by frequenting houses of ill—fame, gaming— houses shall be deemed and considered vagrants [a person without a home who begs for a living], under the provisions of this act, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars . . . and be imprisoned, at the discretion of the court, no exceeding ten days. | vagrants: A person who is without a home and begs for a living |
Analysis Questions
- What were freedmen not allowed to do with land?
- What were the rules about marriage for freedmen?
- What did freedmen living in towns or cities have to do to work?
- What could happen to someone labeled as a “vagrant”?
- How might these restrictions have impacted the day-to-day lives of African Americans?
African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E) Pastor S. B. Williams Reports Atrocities to North Carolina Governor
Holden, 1869
Background Information
After the Civil War, white supremacist groups, like the White League and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), started to form in the South. The KKK was one of the most active of these groups. As the 1868 presidential election approached, the KKK spread across the South, using threats, beatings, and even murder to scare Republican voters. Both Black and white leaders in the South reported the KKK’s violence in their communities, asking for help and condemning the attacks they saw.
In response, Congress passed the Enforcement Acts in 1870 and 1871 to protect African Americans’ rights, including voting, serving in office, being on juries, and having equal protection under the law, as promised by the Fourteenth Amendment. The main target of these laws was the KKK. The third Enforcement Act of 1871 made many of the KKK’s intimidation tactics federal crimes and allowed the president to use the military to stop the violence. However, after Reconstruction officially ended in 1877, these laws were not well enforced, and violence against African Americans often went unpunished.
The following letter to the governor of North Carolina was written by a pastor and teacher from the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church. In it, he describes the violence happening in his community in Hillsboro.
African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E) Pastor S. B. Williams Reports
Atrocities to North Carolina Governor Holden, 1869
| Text | Vocabulary and Context |
| Hillsboro NC Sept. 16th 1869
Gov. W. W. Holden |
|
| Sir,
I wish to inform your Honor of the state of things in Orange County. It appears that a number of the Ku Klux [Klan] has taken in hand to murder up whom they may deem |
|
| You are no doubt acquainted with the fact that two young men of color were taken out of jail, one [was] shot and has since died from the effects of the wound. They also visited Chapel Hill of which your Honor is aware have been made acquainted. On last Monday night a week, they went some five miles below Hillsboro and took away a young man; on the pretense that they were a going to lodge him in jail. |
acquainted: Familiar or knowledgeable about something.pretense: A false reason or excuse for something. |
| Search was made for him but to no purpose. I have been creditably informed this morning that he has been found with his tongue torn out of his mouth and his throat cut. | creditably: In a way that is reliable or trustworthy. |
| My own life has been threatened; and I must be afraid to lie down at night.
Is there no way to put a stop to such outrages[?] Can not your Honor order out a special police as your own Police force to keep the peace of the community and the protection of loyal citizens[?] |
outrages: Violent or cruel acts that cause shock or anger. |
| Or if not order arms to be sent to some of us that we may protect ourselves. I think the other plan the best. Yet I would like to have arms but am to poor to buy them As inteligence [itelligence] has reached me that my life is threatened. |
intelligence[itelligence]: Information or news, often gathered from reliable sources. |
| Fraternally yours S. B. Williams, Pastor of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and Teacher of Freedman’s School | Fraternally yours: A closing salutation similar to “sincerely,” but it implies a close brotherly or friendly relationship. |
Analysis Questions:
- What kind of violence is described in the letter?
- How does the writer ask for help?
- What does the letter tell us about life in the South after the Civil War?
Albion W. Tourgée’s Letter to Senator Joseph C. Abbott, May 24, 1870
Background Information
Albion Tourgée was a well-known lawyer, writer, and politician. After the Civil War, he moved to North Carolina, where he became a lawyer and the editor of a Republican newspaper. Tourgée was an important civil rights activist who worked to expose the violence of groups like the Ku Klux Klan. He later became the main lawyer for Homer Plessy in the famous Plessy v. Ferguson case, which went before the Supreme Court.
The following letter to the governor of North Carolina was written by a pastor and teacher from the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church. In it, he describes the violence happening in his community in Hillsboro.
Albion W. Tourgée’s Letter to Senator Joseph C. Abbott, May 24, 1870
| Text | Vocabulary and Context |
| Gen. Jos. C. Abbott-My Dear General: | |
| It is my mournful duty to inform you that our friend John W. Stephens, State Senator from Caswell, is dead. He was foully murdered by the Ku-Klux in the Grand Jury room of the Court House on Saturday or Saturday night last. . . . He was one of the Justices of the Peace in that township, and was accustomed to hold court in that room on Saturdays. It is evident that he was set upon by some one while holding this court, or immediately after its close, and disabled by a sudden attack, otherwise there would have been a very sharp resistance, as he was a man, |
mournful– Full of sorrow or sadness.foully– Wickedly or cruelly.set upon– To attack suddenly and violently |
| and always went armed to the teeth. He was stabbed five or six times, and then hanged on a hook in the Grand Jury room, where he was found on Sunday morning. Another brave, honest Republican citizen has met his fate at the hands of these fiends. . . . | armed to the teeth– Completely armed, especially with weapons
fiends– Cruel or wicked people |
| These crimes have been of every character imaginable. Perhaps the most usual has been the dragging of men and women from their beds, and beating their naked bodies with hickory switches. . . . From 50 to 100 blows is the usual allowance, sometimes 200 and 300 blows are administered. Occasionally an instrument of torture is owned. . . .I could give other incidents of cruelty, such as hanging up a boy of nine years old until he was nearly dead, to make him tell where his father was hidden, and beating an old negress of 103 years old with garden pallings because she would not own that she was afraid of the Ku-Klux. . . . |
garden pallings- fencing around a garden |
| F our thousand or 5,000 houses have been broken open, and property or persons taken out. And yet the Government sleeps. I am ashamed of the nation that will let its citizens be slain by scores, and scourged by thousands, and offer no remedy or protection. |
scourged– Punished severely or harassed repeatedly.
remedy– A means of solving a problem or correcting a fault. |
Analysis Questions:
- What kind of violence is described in the letter?
- How does the writer describe the government response to the violence?
- What does the letter tell us about life in the South after the Civil War?