(Part IV(b) of a six part series)
Unfortunately, with the rise of black political progress during Reconstruction came the rise of white rage and backlash. Reeling from the defeat in the South, white southerners felt doubly insulted to lose the war and now have their former slaves become their equal, serving in political office and owning land along side them. But northern whites were not exactly warm and welcoming to the newly freed slaves either. While Northern whites may have loathed the institution of slavery, that did not necessarily correlate to a belief in equality among the races. As a result, the laws enacted to protect blacks lacked the moral support to sustain them; and as quickly as they were enacted they were overruled. There were at least three methods used to end the progress of Reconstruction: (1) Terrorism, (2) Active resistance to the laws and (3) Supreme court litigation.
Rise in White Terrorism
In the infamous 1912 silent film Birth of a Nation directed by D.W. Griffith, it depicts the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan as the valiant response of the southern white citizenry to what they believed was an attack on their rights by the Federal government and blacks. To some degree one could understand thier sentiment. There were whites stripped of their right to vote as a prerequisite for readmission to the union, while blacks were able to vote. This led to the election of many black politicians.[1] Nevertheless, the KKK’s reign of terror was in no way justified. They were not a noble defender of the white race as the film portrays. Rather, the KKK was a terrorist organization that went about lynching and terrorizing blacks that dared to engage in activities like other white citizens such as voting or owning a business. They also brutalized whites they believed were sympathetic to blacks.
To provide a little background, the KKK has had three distinct flourishings in American History: the 1870s, the 1950s and 1960s during the civil rights movement, and in the 1920s.[2] Founded one year after the end of slavery in 1866 in Pulaski, Tennessee, it draws its name from the Greek word Kyklos, meaning circle or band. Those pledged to the group would swear an oath that states in part, “Before the immaculate Judge of Heaven and earth…We are on the side of justice, humanity, and constitutional liberty as bequeathed to us in its original purity by our forefathers.”[3] Stated another way, their pledge was to make America great again.
Thee KKK’s method for returning this country to its “original purity” was a lethal mixture of cowardice, brutality and evil. They would ride around at night typically dressed in solid-colored gowns, hoods, or “false faces” and some wore horns strapped to their heads.[4] They would break into the homes of blacks and white Republicans, searching for weapons and interrogating the household members. Their assaults were violent, hateful and demented. They savagely beat, threatened, murdered and sexually molested their victims both male and female.[5] For example, during one incident, the KKK made a white Republican named William Champion kiss the inside buttocks of a black community leader, Clem Bowden, before making Champion kiss the “private parts” of Clem’s wife Minerva.[6] All three were savagely beaten during this incident as well. Also, the whites would attempt to disguise their voice by using foreign accents, but their victims knew who they were.[7]
These barbarous acts became the basis for a federal investigation by the Department of Justice. As noted in Part I of this series, may whites were indicted for their extra-military and extra-judicial action used to terrorize. This was made possible by the KKK Act passed in 1871, which was meant to destroy the Klan and suppress their conspiracy. Although many were indicted, they did not serve any real punishment for their acts. The terror enacted against blacks continued unabated without the legal force to stop it.
Active Resistance Through the Law
The threat of physical violence was but one way southern whites opposed black progress. They also resisted black equality through the blatant disregard for black rights, as well as enact laws meant to restrict black rights. For instance, the Civil Rights Act of 1875 explicitly protected the rights of blacks to serve on juries by outlawing race-based jury service.[8] This law was further buttressed by a stern U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Strauder v. West Virginia, 100 U.S. 303 (1880). However, despite Congress’ explicit protection and the support of the court, the states continued to keep blacks from serving on juries. The Civil Rights Act was rarely enforced and did not affect local officials.[9] Also, the states enacted Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. In fact, the first Jim Crow laws appear in 1870s in Tennessee, mandating segregation in every facet of life. These laws defied the purpose of the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1875 as well as the Reconstruction Amendments. They also served the basis of two important cases that found their way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The first case decided in 1883 was a consolidation of five cases known collectively as The Civil Rights Cases, 109 U.S. 3 (1883). These cases arose from incidences where blacks were denied access to public commerce and accommodation. The second case was Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896). This was a test case initiated by the Comité des Citoyens (Citizen’s committee) of Louisiana, a black political group. They had a 30-year-old shoemaker named Homer Plessy, who was one-eighth black (also known as an octroon) engage in an act of civil disobedience. He bought a first class railway ticket and sat in the white passenger section in defiance of the Separate Car Act. He was arrested, and challenged the law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Unfortunately, both cases would prove devastating to the progress of black rights in America, which leads to the last way black progress was stopped.
The U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Again
Finally, the decline in black rights could not be complete without a major blow from the U.S. Supreme Court. In the two cases listed above, the court was able to reverse the legal gains made by blacks during Reconstruction and usher in Jim Crow. In the Civil Rights Cases, the court held that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was un-constitutional; reasoning that the 14th Amendment did not protect citizens from the action of other private citizens, but only against state action. In other words, if a private citizen wanted to deny black people access to public accommodations, the constitution did not prevent them from doing so; in fact the constitution was powerless to stop it. The court also declared:
When a man has emerged from slavery, and by the aid of beneficent legislation has shaken off the inseparable concomitants of that state, there must be some stage in the progress of his elevation when he takes the rank of a mere citizen, and ceases to be the special favorite of the laws… Civil Rights Cases, supra, at 25.
The court handed down and equally egregious ruling in Plessy. There the court officially sanctioned the doctrine of “separate but equal,” which allowed separate public accommodations for the races so long as they were equal. To be sure, the states upheld the separate portion of the doctrine, but they never fulfilled the equal part. The court further held that the disparate treatment blacks experienced was not related to their former status as slaves, and if blacks felt otherwise it was because they simply chose to place that burden on them.
The court’s unwillingness to properly address the issue of slavery, race and the effects of racism in society has had a lingering effect on this country. The court, as well as the rest of the nation, was ready to get beyond slavery. But in doing so, they only served to further entrench the issue of race and racism. As a result, we are still dealing with these issues today, although in a different iteration.
–Until Next Time–
Palooke
[1] Weiner, Mark. Black Trials: Citizenship from the Beginnings of Slavery to the End of Caste. 191. New York: Vintage Books 2004.
[2] Id. at 192
[3] Id. at 193
[4] Id. at 194
[5] Id.
[6] Id. at 186.
[7] Id. at 194. The stories of these victims were preserved in the records of the “Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States.”
[8] Equal Justice Initiative “Illegal Racial Discrimination in Jury Selection: A Continuing Legacy,” at 9.
[9] Id. at 9-10.
