Opposition to civil rights: KKK and violence

Question 1

What were the activities of the KKK?

Answer 1

• Set up in 1865 after blacks won freedom in US
• operated mostly in southern states
• used extreme violence like lynching and murder
• only white Anglo Saxon protestants could join
• also attacked jews, Catholics and liberals

Question 2

Who was Emmett Till and what happened to him in 1955?

Answer 2

• a 14 year old Chicago black boy visiting family in Mississippi
• he was murdered by Carolyn Bryant’s husband after she accused him of sexual advances
• Till was abducted and beat severely, then shot and thrown in the river

Question 3

What did the murder of Emmett Till lead to?

Answer 3

• media coverage which fuelled widespread shock and outrage

Question 4

What happened after the trial?

Answer 4

• Black people continued to be murdered and the killers were rarely convicted as the killers of Till weren’t convicted either