Welcome to the first blog post of the year. I hope you will find these weekly assignments enlightening and interesting. As with most things in school/life, you get out what you put in.
The Reconstruction Era, as you know, refers to the ten years of American History after the Civil War ended. I cannot help but note the entire period would have looked much different if Lincoln had not been assassinated in April 1865.
We will cover the main ideas of Reconstruction in class. So, for this blog, I want you to dive into some of the personal accounts of how Reconstruction affected "everyday people". The study of history is most interesting when seen through the eyes of those who experienced the events first hand.
Please visit this website. Read the account of a first-hand experience with the KKK.
For the comment section, please complete the following tasks.
1) Summarize what you read.
2) Discuss why you think many southern whites resorted to violence against former slaves during the Reconstruction Era?
Remember, your blog must be at least 200 words and include the word count.
Ben Johnson was a slave in the 1840’s. He was born in North Carolina. Ben recalls many different encounters with the Ku Klux Klan. One of the slaves, Cy Guy, was hung by the KKK. They hung Cy over the road and the KKK wrote a sentence saying that anyone who takes down the body will be hung too. His body was there for four days until the sheriff took it down. Ben also recalls Ed and Cindy who were slaves. Their slave owner told them to move out within a month, but they didn’t. The KKK whipped them and threw them into an icy pond. Ed made it out alive, but Cindy wasn’t seen again. One encounter was different though. The KKK came to kill Sam Allen, but Sam managed to kill 2 of the members. He got away. Bob was another slave that was hung, but Ben shook hands with him before he was hung and Ben later buried his body. I think many southern whites resorted to violence against former slaves because they feared the slaves would want revenge on their former slave owners. I think they also feared that they would cause other violence or uprising against them. (Word Count: 205)
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ReplyDeleteIn December 1865, eight months after the South had surrendered, six young men living near Nashville, Tennessee decided to come up with a social club because of boredom. All of them were veterans of the Confederate Army. There meetings ended up being a secret where they had many elaborate ceremonies. In a mocking-imitation they came up with the title Ku Klux Klan. Soon blacks being terrorized became a normal thing for the KKK. The KKK reign became short lived in 1871 when Congress passed the Ku Klux Klan Act. The Klan drifted away until its revival in 1915. In 1848, a guy named Ben Johnson was born. Eighty-five years later he was interviewed for a project gathered by former slaves. He lived near Durham, NC when he recalls meeting with the KKK after the Civil War ended. He tells a story of how he watched his owner sell his brother to someone else. He says his owner fed and clothed him, but he still missed his brother. He tells how he saw Cy Guy hung. They hung him for insulting a white woman. They scraped his arm to get blood. They then wrote he shall hang between the heavens and earth till he is dead, dead, dead, and that any nigger what takes down the body shall be hanged too. The next morning there he hung right over the road. I believe southern whites restored violence against slaves because they were scared the slaves wanted to hurt their owners. (word count:250)
ReplyDeleteThe Klu Klux Klan was formed by six veterans of the recently defeated Confederate army. This klan started out as innocent veterans gathering to remember their fallen brothers. Sadly, the group was formed in Pulaski, TN. Some of the members were in a fraternity before entering the group so that is how the name was decided upon. Even though the group was innocent to start out, they wore uniforms that frightened the recently freed slaves. So the KKK began lightly terrorizing the freed slaves. As word spread mini Klans began assembling all across the South. The main target of the KKK were the freed slaves and also the "carpet baggers." The Klan chose to terrorize during the night hours. Finally, the government stepped in and shut down the Klan in 1871. But the KKK reconstructed in 1915. Since they had a second chance they doubled the level of thei crime. Ben Johnson, an eyewitness slave, talks about these crimes in this article. The way he described the targeted crimes, made me come to the conclusion that the masters of the slaves were in on these crimes. When a master would have a problem with a slave they notified the KKK; NOT THE DEPUTY! (203)
ReplyDeleteThe Klu Klux Klan was formed by six veterans of the recently defeated Confederate army. This klan started out as innocent veterans gathering to remember their fallen brothers. Sadly, the group was formed in Pulaski, TN. Some of the members were in a fraternity before entering the group so that is how the name was decided upon. Even though the group was innocent to start out, they wore uniforms that frightened the recently freed slaves. So the KKK began lightly terrorizing the freed slaves. As word spread mini Klans began assembling all across the South. The main target of the KKK were the freed slaves and also the "carpet baggers." The Klan chose to terrorize during the night hours. Finally, the government stepped in and shut down the Klan in 1871. But the KKK reconstructed in 1915. Since they had a second chance they doubled the level of thei crime. Ben Johnson, an eyewitness slave, talks about these crimes in this article. The way he described the targeted crimes, made me come to the conclusion that the masters of the slaves were in on these crimes. When a master would have a problem with a slave they notified the KKK; NOT THE DEPUTY! (203)
ReplyDeleteWhat I have learned from the Reconstruction era is that we had one of the worst and racist presidents named Andrew Johnson. Also, I have learned that the KKK was driven and broken apart by Grant's army that he sent to defeat. It is unbelievable that things went crazy for three of our presidents after Lincoln was assassinated. You had whites in the south go crazy over having slavery abolished and for blacks to have voting rights. It became a major problem all the way til the late 1950s or 1960s.
ReplyDeleteI think that the whites in the south resorted in violence because they found no other good way to settle things. Even in the north the whites were fighting blacks because they did not want equal rights with blacks.
Just from the lack of fun the KKK was created. Its name sent terror into the “hearts of the victims.” It all started with a group of (recently defeated) six confederate men in 1865, living near Nashville, Tennessee. Their name came from a “mock-imitation” of college sororities, but just to start off there so called club, they would wear sheets to cover up their body and exotic masks with pointed head gear to make them look powerful. Soon enough, the KKK’s motives were innocent until they started terrorizing blacks as a prime sport. This club started to turn into a “ruthless vigilance committee.” The Klan spreads to the South with local organizations mimicking the actions of the KKK. However, there was no one in command, they were independent people who had targets for former slaves and carpet baggers ( northerns that invaded the South). The power of the KKK died in a short amount of time by 1868 but had a revival in 1915. Ben Johnson Was a former slave around 1848 when the KKK came along. He told stories of how a man was hung for insulting a women and men and women thrown in the ice for not leaving a house. He shares stories of what the KKK would do for doing something wrong or mistreating someone. I think many southern whites resorted to violence because the slaves were now free. They could go to there former owner and kill them and there family. I think the whites were afraid of what would come so they started the violence upon former slaves. (Word count: 266)
ReplyDeletePaytn Cripps
The Ku Klux Klan began 8 months after the South surrendered, in December of 1865. Six men organized it as a social club out of Pulaski, Tennessee. As the Klan began to grow, the violence became more intense. The Klan targeted Blacks and Northern “carpet-baggers.” Violent night-time raids and killings were common in that time. Although the Klan became one of the South’s most powerful organizations, it was mostly made up of independent local groups. Eventually, the Klan declined due to local governments stepping in, and a law passed by Congress allowing the use of federal troops to suppress the Klan. The Ku Klux Klan did not make any more public appearances until 1915.
ReplyDeleteBen Johnson, a former slave, had much first-hand experience with the KKK. He recalls the Klan hanging someone brutally for an insult to a white woman. He also tells a story about two former slaves and their former master. The former master told the two freed Blacks they had one month to move. After a month, the Klan came and beat them and threw them into a frozen pond, killing one.
Many whites in the south resorted to violence during the time after the Civil War. I believe this is because their entire way of life changed. If all they had known their entire lives was that the black people were inferior to them, and then suddenly that all changes, that would be life changing. They also just lost a war in which they thought they were the right side. They resorted to violence because it is the easiest thing to resort to, and things like the KKK made it feel normal again.
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The KKK (Ku Klux Klan) was a social club that turned into a “club” that terrorized the “Negros” in the south, and any whites that help the “Negros”. The KKK started in Nashville, Tennessee with some veteran from the south that were mad about losing the Civil War. The men covered them selfs with bed sheets to cover there body and some kind of cloth to cover their identified from the public. They hung “Negros” all over the south. President Grant sent some military men to the south to protect the “Negros” from the KKK. The KKK stop in 1871, but it pick back up in 1915.
ReplyDeleteThe white men resorted to violence for one day they owned slaves, then the next day the same slaves they owned is walking down the street free and happy. They think that the “Negros” are below them and don’t deserves to be free and be able to vote. All these men wont the same way it used to be were the “Negros” were afraid of the white owners. After the Cilil War that all most all changed. The KKK stared to relieve their anger from the aftermath of the War. Ku Klux Klan was a bad seed from the south past that we should not go back to.(200)
Rebecka Houghton
The Klu Klux Klan started with only six men in 1865. They lived in a village called Pulaski which is located in Tennessee. They all used to be apart of the Confederate army. They named their leader the Grand Cyclops. It all started because they were bored, but it eventually mutated into a group that was known for abusing African Americans. Along with abusing African Americans, they terrorized “carpet-baggers”. “Carpet-baggers” is a term that they used to describe Northerners who moved to live in the south. In the article Ben Johnson gave a firsthand account of the acts of the KKK. (104) He first talks about when he was younger he saw his brother Jim be sold. Next, he talks about this guy named Cy who got hanged because of the way he talked to a white woman. And lastly, he talks about how the Klu Klux Klan got the African Americans out of their beds one night and took them outside. Then, they proceeded to basically beat them and throw them in a freezing pond. One man he knew named Ed was there that night, and after the Klan left he could not find his wife. I think the men were really mean to the freed slaves because that is how they were raised and grew up treating them. But, even at that, it does not excuse their actions.
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ReplyDeleteThe Ku Klux Klan started 8 months after the south surrendered in 1865. The Klan got there idea from college fraternities, because all of the 6 original members had attended college and all remembered the social clubs that had three Greek letters on the front of the house and was like a brotherhood. This club was based on there hatred for the “Negroes”. The Klan had a few requirements: 1. you had to be white, 2. you had to wear a white garment so you couldn't’t be recognized, 3. you had to have a cone and a sheet over you head so it would make you look larger, 4. and finally you were not allowed to talk about the meeting outside of the meeting with anyone who was’t a member.
ReplyDeleteI think the white men restored to violence because they did’t know what els to do, there hole way of doing things just changed. They couldn't’t have people working for them for free anymore and a lot of slave owners lost a lot of income when this happened. Also violence is one of the easiest things to resort to when things get hard, nested of going through it and finding a way to do what you were doing before but the right way. (214)
Ben Johnson was born a slave circa 1848. He was born in Orange County North Carolina, and he “belonged” to a man named Gilbert Gregg. He didn’t know anything about his parents, but he had a brother named Jim who was sold. Ben said that this was the loneliest he has ever felt in his life. He tells us about the monstrosities the KKK has committed. The first one is about a guy name Cy Guy. He was hung because he said something scandalous to a white woman. They came after him a hundred strong. Above where he was hung, was “tween the heavens and the earth till he is dead, dead, dead, and that any nigger what takes down the body shall be hanged too.” The sheriff took him down after four days. Then there was a couple named Ed and Cindy. They had a month to move out after the war, and they didn’t. So they were dragged out of bed, whipped, and thrown into an ice-cold pond. Cindy hadn’t been seen since, but Ed has. Sam Allen was told to move and after a month, the KKK came to his door with a casket and said he has time to say his prayers and say goodbye to his wife. He grabbed a knife and killed two KKK members and escaped. I think the reason so many whites resorted to violence is because they thought that black people were going to resort to violence first. If you’re people were oppressed for hundreds of years, wouldn’t you except a retaliation of some sort? This doesn’t make what they did right of course(274 words)
ReplyDeleteIn so in 1865 a good thing happened for black people, but then 8 months later it was back to being bad. In April 1865 the Confederate army of the south surrendered the Cival war. And few days later slaves were now not just free men. White peoples were suppose to treat them the same as they treated their white friends. Of course a lot of the South was not a big fan of that. And then soon enough people started a rebellious uprising. It started out as these 6 white guys starting a social club obviously whites only. And slowly slowly and slowly began getting popular, but not as a social club. 8 months later this "social club" is now targeting black people and milling them in violent ways. Men, women, and sometimes children slaughtered. They were killed by either: burning, hanging, drowning, and violently beaten. They now didn't just call it a social club. It was named the Ku Klux Klan, KKK, and it was easy to target black people. They would go to judges, policeman, governors, and white mean in high positions in their states. To be beat or kill these black peoples that were excersising their freedoms "too much." They would especially look at the papers and they would look for the black people that did not vote democrate. They work of go after those peoples first, but they also would threaten them or their families so that person would vote democratic. And black people stood up for themselves and their black cumminuties by trying to take out either individuals or just try to kill as many of them as possible. A man named Sam Allen was being threatened to move or his family would die. So one day he comes home from and work a tells his wife goodbye because he might die that night. He goes out and kill 2 member so and wounds another, and he manages to escape. Sam Allen and many others have risked their lives for what is right. (335 words)
ReplyDeleteBen Johnson was a slave born in 1848 in North Carolina. Ben talks about the Ku Klux Klan and the time they hung Cy Guy. He was hung for a scandalous insult to a white woman. They tried him in the woods and he was hung. With that, it was said that he should hang there and if anyone took the body down they would be hung as well. The body stood there for four days until a sheriff came and took it down. Ben then goes on to talk about Ed and Cindy. They were both told to move out of their slave owners house within a month. When they didn’t do as told, they were whipped and thrown into an icy pond. Ed made it out alive,but Cindy didn’t. Sam Allen had a different outcome. He wasn’t hung, but he killed two members of the KKK and managed to get away. The last story told is Bob Boylan, who was hung on Hillsburo Road. I think the whites resorted to violence because they were fearful. They feared the slaves would rise up against them and cause violence as well. It’s also very difficult to go from believing in one way, to being told that slaves are now to be treated equally.
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The KKK or the kun klux klan started in December 1865 after the civil war. In the village of Pulaski Tennessee. the groups was originally made up of 6 younge men who were ex confederate Soilders. And with them it spread through a college making it a society to where high officials were part of it. The group knew a lot from the officials like who did a crime or who voted. The KKK was a threat to the south as they were democratic and they didn't want anyone voting republican. And whoever voted republican was eithe hung, shot, lost all possessions, or all the family members shown dead. And no one could tell ya who it was as they wore masks and white clothes and even on the horses had white clothes. And this group was horrible and years after this group been togther its dispersed since the first generation has passed its group has lowered. But the klan is still up today but have horrible consequences than the consequences back when it first started. 150 -Jimmy Green
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DeleteThe KKK started out at the end of 1865. It started out innocent. At first, it was just a social club that consisted of ex-Confederate soldiers getting together after the Civil War. The club only started out with 6 members at first. The KKK originated in a small town in Tennessee called Pulaski. Ben Johnson was born a slave in North Carolina. He remembers the KKK hanging someone he knew that goes by the name Cy Guy. The reason why he was hung was because he had insulted a white woman. He was tried in the woods, then he was hung. They hung him between two trees. They then said that any black man that tried to move his body or tried to take it down would be hung as well. Luckily enough, no one dared to touch the body for four days. On the fourth day a police officer came to take down the body. Another one of Ben’s friends, Sam Allen, was said to have killed two KKK members. The amazing part is, is that he got away with it too. He risked his life for what he believed was right, and that takes a lot of courage. I personally think that the whites back then were just so blinded with hate and fear that they found people different than them and took it out on them. The KKK ended up dying out until around 1915. (238)
ReplyDeleteBen Johnson was born into slavery in 1848. He recollects having his brother taken from his family and sold, and how lonely he was. He also remembers many incidents when the klu klux klan killed or tourchered people he knew. Mr.Johnson recalls many times when other African Americans he knew were threatened for their life, beaten and/ or hung.
ReplyDeleteI think that whites were cruel ain't violent to blacks for many reasons. One being the they had always been told that black people weren't really people, and they believed it. Secondly the southern whites were probably very upset that they lost the war and that their slaves were now free. Some whites may have wanted revenge while others may just have liked the fact that they could show the black people that they were still superior to them.
the Ku Klux Klan started in December of 1865. their forming was 8 months after the south lost and was forced to surrender. six men from pulaski, Tennessee, which is near nashville, decided they wanted to create a "social club." they had all been in the Southern army during the war and were Frat boys from back in their college days so they got the ku klux klan as a knock off greek fraternity name. they made disquises and wore them at ceremonies they held. the disquise covered their entire body in a big sheet. the leader was a grand Cyclops. they started out as a regular group, but it developed into a group of white men targeting black men and killed them for small to no reason. the klan was a terrorist group that spread in the south but never really was led by one man. it was mainly small groups in a city or town run by a few people who had the same motives and hated the blacks. the KKK only lasted 6 years until congress passed the kkk act to use the federal troops to end them. they werent an active group until 1915.
ReplyDeletei think 1 reason the whites immediatedly went to use violence against the blacks after the war was because the whites were afraid the blacks would do it first. since they were now equals and the whites couldnt tell them what to do, the whites had treated them so poorly in the past that the blacks were probably upset and wanted a little revenge. thus, putting the idea into the southern white mens heads that if they started violence first theyd win. (280)
In December of 1865 eight veterans of the confederate army who were living in the Nashville Tennessee area decided to organize a social club. Some of them attended college and came up with the name Klu Klux Klan for their group to imitate the Greek based names of fraternities. They dressed themselves up in sheets and masks and referred to their leader as the Grand Cyclops. Although their intentions seemed innocent their group took a dark turn when they became known for terrorizing the black people. Ben Johnson had a first hand experience with the Klu Klux Klan. Ben was a born slave in 1848 who was interviewed 85 years later about his encounters with the Klu Klux Klan. Ben told stories like how he had to watch his brother being drug away in chains after he was sold to different owners. He told stories of black people such as Cy Guy and Bob Boylan being hanged and Ed and Cindy who didn't move after one month and were thrown into an icy lake to die. It was a horrible how mistreated black people were during that period of time and I believe that is because white people were intimidated by black people after they were free because they were afraid the black people would retaliate and turn on them.
ReplyDelete-Ariel Patton (215)
ReplyDeleteThe KKK(Ku Klux Klan) began in 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee. They started off as a social club for a small group of former Confederate soldiers. They soon grew in number and were known for terrorizing blacks. The Klan was very unorganized, there was no chain of command and the organization consisted of many independent local groups that simply shared the same ideals. The Klan did not last long once the Klu Klux Klan Act was authorized, however, they did make a come back in the early 19th century.
Ben Johnson was a former slave from around 1848. Many years later a group of reporters interviewed him to hear about his experiences as a former slave. Ben Johnson has several stories about his encounters with the KKK during the Reconstruction Era. Ben was born in Orange County, North Carolina. He does not remember anything about his parents although he did have a brother named Jim. His was separated from his brother when he was sold during his time as a slave. Ben has several stories of people who were victims of the KKK’s violent acts such as Cy who was hung over the middle of the for everyone to see because he made an insult to a white woman.
I think part of the reason why many resorted to violence against former slaves was because they still did not see them as equals. Also many people thought that blacks were a bunch of savages and they might revolt against the people who formerly owned them and maybe even treated them harshly during their time as slaves.
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In 1865 the KKK or Klu Klutz Klan was started. At first, the KKK was an innocent social club stated by 6 men in Pulaski, Tennessee. All the men were veteran Confederate soldiers. They all planned to have their meetings in secret and wear sheets over their bodies with the part that covered their heads being pointed. They also named the leader the Grand Cyclops. The KKK quickly became ruthless and terrorized free black slaves. A former slave named Ben Johnson recalled his past experiences with the KKK. He recalls the time they hung one of the slaves he knew by the name of Cy Guy. He says they hung him and left his body there for 4 days until the sheriff came and took it down. (127)
ReplyDeleteI believe the whites resorted to violence against freed slaves because they may have been angered by losing the civil war. They already hated the black community, so when the slaves got to become free citizens of the U.S. they KKK were mad and may have been in a very ignorant mindset. The whites may have also believed that the slaves would team up and take out any anger they had on the white community due to how they were treating them. (83)
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The KKK was founded in 1865. It started out as a non violent social club in the small town of Pulaski, Tennessee. They would do things together, and had to wear sheets and masks to hide their face and body figure so nobody would be able to recognize who they were. They hated the new freed slaves, and all black people. They were an anti-black group. A former slave by the name of Ben Johnson reelected on the KKK killing a man named CY GUY. The KKK strung him up and left him there for 4 days. Then the blacks had to bury him.
ReplyDeleteI think that the KKK is a symbol of the scared and distant cry of the old south. They are oppressing the newly freed slaves, by killing and harassing them. But they couldn't show their faces. They couldn't give up their identity because they would face consequences. That is one way of proofing that everything that they did was wrong. The KKK was and is trying to keep things the way it was in the old pre-reconstruction era. They were holding on to the past and are sore losers. The KKK is still active today but it is not nearly as active as it was in the past, and I think that times are changing for the good in that way. [225]