Opposition remained strong throughout the period?

Question 1

Ku Klux Klan Early (1865-1900) [4]

Answer 1

• Founded in 1867, Nathan Forest became first ‘Grand Wizard’
• Klan attacked workers of Freedmen’s Bureau in 1860s + intimidated AA’s who attempted to vote + attend desegregated schools
• 200 deaths in Louisiana in run-up to 1868 election
• By 1871 - membership of 40,000 in Tennessee alone, organization disintegrated in 1870s (no reason to exist in South)

Question 2

Ku Klux Klan Mid (1900-1950) [3]

Answer 2

• Reborn in 1915 encouraged by film ‘The Birth of a Nation’ - portrayed the Klan as heroic in its fight against Northern ‘tyranny’
• Membership peaked to 6 million members in 1924
• Declined due to sexual scandal involving Grand Wizard D.C. Stephenson in Indiana - membership decreased to 30,000 by 1930.

Question 3

Ku Klux Klan Late (1950-1992) [3]

Answer 3

• Various groups from 1950 used the name & some methods, but ceased to be a mass org.
• 1961 some members attacked the Freedom Riders with tacit approval from Southern police authorities
• Last lynching 1981 Michael Donal - perpetrators were given death sentence.

Question 4

White Citizens’ Councils [3]

Answer 4

• Formed after 1954 Brown v. Board to protest school desegregation
• Encouraged intimidation of AA’s trying to vote & hostile actions against civil rights initiatives
• Councils declined in 1960s.

Question 5

Lynching [4]

Answer 5

• 2,700 lynchings between 1885 and 1917
• Murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi in 1955 - murderers acquitted
• Assassination of Medgar Evers in 1962 - authorities did little to find the murders
• Last lynching 1981 Michael Donal

Question 6

State Governments & Officials [4]

Answer 6

• Little Rock 1957 -> Governor Orval Faubus = racist, segregated schools
• Birmingham 1963 -> Governor George Wallace = racist
• Jim Crow Laws across South from 1877 + Sharecropping
• 1991 Rodney King beat by LA police

Question 7

Federal Government [4]

Answer 7

• Hayes-Tilden Compromise 1877 + early supreme court decisions e.g. 1896 Plessy v. Ferg
• Andrew Johnson - Black codes, but no real opposition after AJ except SC??
• Brown v. Board 1954 -> fed gov. reluctant until Kennedy
• Reagan -> removing support for C. Rights

Question 8

Judgements on opposition remaining strong

Answer 8

KKK: Opposition stayed strong throughout period but overtly due to Jim Crow
White Citizens’ Councils: Opposition only strong in 1950s
State Gov & Officials: Opposition remained strong until 1960s but then legal state racism GONE
Fed Gov: Weak/passive F.G allowed opposition, only changed in 1960s

Overall - opposition remained strong until 1960s overtly but then declined due to CRM.