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Article: News and Views: A Brief History of the Ku Klux Klan
- Article from:
- The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
- Article date:
- December 31, 1996
CopyrightCopyright CH II Publishers, Inc. Dec 31, 1996. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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News and Views: A Brief History of the Ku Klux Klan.
In the years following the Civil War blacks held considerable political power in southern states. In an effort to terrorize the newly enfranchised black voter, the Ku Klux Klan was born. Adopting the uniform of a white cloak and hood and the symbol of the burning cross, members of the KKK pillaged black neighborhoods and murdered black leaders. The cloak and hood, which served to hide the identity of the Klansmen, also frightened black southerners with a ghostly image of deadly terror. Violence against blacks was so widespread that President Ulysses S. Grant was forced to commit large numbers of federal troops to put down the Klan.
In ...