African American Pageant Chapter 13 Outline

To begin, the Klu Klux Klan is an organization whose purpose is to terrorize people of color. Dressed in all white, their identities are hidden as they attack in the dead of night. The KKK is founded by a group of confederate veterans in 1865, and their goal was to end Reconstruction. The Klan only recruited members who were male, white, and not Jew. Former Confederate Nathaniel Bedford Forrest tried to stop the organization for, “...the Klan’s violent tactics grew too extreme” (Source 1).

Going beyond the roots of the southern states, the KKK had a huge impact on the American society in the 1920’s. To fully understand the Ku Klux Klan you have to know how the KKK originated. The Ku Klux Klan founded in 1866 in the town of Pulaski, Tennessee by former confederate army veterans; the first leader of the KKK is also known as the “Grand Wizard” was Nathan Bedford Forrest who was a former slave trader. The KKK was created in order to enforce white superiority in the south. The Klan members primarily targeted people who were not white, Anglo- Saxon, or Protestant.

In the South, there was a group called the Ku Klux Klan, or the KKK. They would run rampant killing whoever they pleased, and no one would stop them. The KKK would kill political figures who supported Reconstruction or freedman. In a testimony to the Senate, Abram Colby states, “On the 29th of October 1869, [the Klansmen] broke my door open , took me out of my bed, took me to the woods and whipped me three hours or more and left me for dead” (Colby 513). The KKK targeted African Americans and tortured them to death.

The racial tension in the United States was very high. Black people were killed by the Ku Klux Klan, lynching and other racially triggered violence were very strong in the south. People of color would receive poor education and have to be segregated from white people. Martin Luther King Jr. stood up for equal rights and was killed trying. From the 1850s up was hard years for colored people.

The latter’s economy was factory driven, therefore there was no need for the slave labor, which there was a very high demand for in the southern states. People in the north were starting to realize that although these slaves were black, they were still people, a relatively new idea for Americans, whom had relied on this labor for hundreds of years. The northern peoples had the epiphany that the African-American people were being treated very unfairly and unethically and were not happy with it. The southern people were either blind to this fact or chose to ignore it so that they could continue to thrive financially, and make the most money using the free slave labor. The work in the south was much more labor intensive, whether it was agriculture or something of the like, so the landowners were much more content sitting back watching the darker skinned people do all the dirty work for them.

During the Reconstruction Era, the South found loopholes in the legislature passed by the north that worked in their favor and complicated people's views on Reconstruction. For example, Sharecropping put black field workers into an endless circle of debt, essentially making them slaves again (Document D). The 13th amendment outlawed slavery, but Sharecropping was just a little sneaky idea that white plantation owners uses to get their labour back. Things like the grandfather clause, poll taxes, and the literacy test prevented blacks from being able to vote, a right guaranteed in the 15th amendment (Document H). These things were directed at blacks, and were rarely given to whites, and were only legal because there were no laws against them.

The blacks were forced to vote for republicans, the blacks were looked at as free but not as equals in the south, the most powerful people lawyers, doctors and dentists who could make a difference were members of the Ku Klux Klan, who were against reconstruction. The southern leaders of the government only wanted white people in power, the north pulled out all its soldiers from the south, making it even more difficult for the freedmen to be free and equal. The South had a lot of violence, The KKK held responsibility for most of the violence in the south because not one person tried to stop them. The KKK is a

The Ku Klux Klan during the 1920s was primarily based in the southern United States but had a presence throughout the country, it was known for the use of violence, intimidation, and terrorism to support and maintain white supremacy, and its goal was to prevent progress for African Americans, immigrants, and other minority groups, basically all non-withes. The Klan's resurgence in the 1920s was a reaction to two significant events of the era: the Great Migration and the rise of nativism. The Great Migration was a large movement of African Americans coming from the south United States to the north cities in search of better opportunities and equality, the large Migration of African Americans into predominant white cities created social tensions

One of reasons the confederacy failed was because the U.S. Congress, with Lincoln’s support, proposed the 13th amendment which would abolish slavery in America. Although the confederate peace delegation was unwilling to accept a future without slavery, the radical and moderate Republicans designed a way to takeover the reconstruction program. The Radical Republicans wanted full citizenship rights for African Americans and wanted to implement harsh reconstruction policies toward the south. The radical republican views made up the majority of the Congress and helped to pass the 14th amendment which guaranteed equality under the law for all citizens, and protected freedmen from presidential vetoes, southern state legislatures, and federal court decisions. In 1869, Congress passed the fifteenth amendment stating that no citizen can be denied the right to vote because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

Pageants separates itself from other cultures due to its history, hair and makeup styles, social habits, ethics, and stereotypes. The history of pageantry has changed tremendously over the years. “In other words, it is not simply that the Miss America pageant defines the “typical” woman within the bounds of whiteness, but also that the pageant presents the definition of typicality as a national identity for all women” (Watson & Martin, 2004, p.70). The first African American to capture the title of Miss USA was Carole Ann-Marie Gist in 1984. The Miss USA pageant started in 1952, so it took 32 years for a black woman to claim the title.

Post Civil War, African Americans started to gain rights to gain rights, and soon gain rights equal to whites. While there were some people/things standing in their way (KKK, Black Codes), in the end they got what they needed; Equality. Many acts and laws were passed to aid the new rights now held by African Americans, as well as the numerous people willing to help. New Amendments were added to give African Americans rights after the war, all giving them some equal rights to whites. The first of the three added was the Thirteenth Amendment, it gave African Americans freedom from slave owners, and stated that no one could be kept as a slave in the U.S..

President Johnson gave a pardon to all ex-confederates. He also gave all land the government had taken over back to its previous owners. Which turned the north against Johnston. Congressional reconstruction is when the radical republicans basically took over President Johnsons reconstruction plan because they were appalled about the black codes. They wrote and passed the 14th amendment that gave African Americans the right to vote.

The Ku Klux Klan or KKK has created centuries of fear. They originated in Pulaski, Tennessee. The famous hate group was out to re establish white supremacy. The KKK has influenced local governments and people in power. It has also had an impact on American people and specifically black minorities.

This including the electing of Abraham Lincoln made the southern states feel like they were going to lose control of the political choices in the southern territories, which would have lead to them not having control over their area in general (American Civil War History). These events are all effects where the underlying problem was the conflict of slavery that was between the north and south states. Showing how much of a factor it was during the civil war era. Making it one of the largest causes of why the civil war broke

The Reconstruction (1865-1877) was a period during which the life of the defeated South was to be returned to normal; it was also a time when the Black Americans attained some rights thanks to Lincoln and the Republican part of the Congress and despite Johnson’s intentions. An extremely violent time, it is sometimes called “the darkest period of American history”; still, it brought many important progressive changes to the US. Abraham Lincoln is known for proclaiming the black slaves Emancipation in 1863; he was convinced that it was necessary for the North to win the war. Lincoln believed that the Confederate states needed to be reintegrated back into the US while preserving the abolition of slavery; however, the 16th President wasn’t planning