9781422277812

THE KU KLUX KLAN Groups of white men that slaves often called “paddyrollers” served as the outside enforcement arm for slaveholders. While denying any connection to theses provocateurs, “paddyrollers” could be dispatched to capture wayward slaves, physically intimidate both slaves and free persons of color, or exact the ultimate punishment in the form of a horrifying death. With the demise of slavery at the end of the Civil War, the threat of a new and decidedly colorful power structure triggered some Southern land barons and businessmen to protect their wealthy status by relying on violence and intimidation similar to the “paddyrollers” of yesteryear. The Ku Klux Klan was one such organization, established in May 1866 in Pulaski, Tennessee, by members of the former Confederate Army. It originated in a period of time when the South lived under Union military rule and a start was made to give black men equal rights in law as well as practice. Blacks were a political majority in many southern states and, in some minds, required tight control. Members of the Ku Klux Klan came together supposedly for social purposes. It were a fraternal order of white businessmen, politicians, and workers, and indeed a Klansman could be the sheriff, mayor, or banker. However, the fraternal order was dedicated to keeping blacks on the lowest rungs of the political and economic ladders. Marauding Klansmen threatened blacks who tried to leave plantations and operate

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C I V I L R I GH T S L E A D E R S : MA R Y MC L E OD B E T HUN E