Opposition To Civil Rights : The KKK and Violence Flashcards
When was the KKK set up
1865 after black slaves won their freedoms
Aim of the KKK
To stop black Americans from gaining equality
Terrorised black families by
Intimidationand extreme violence, included murder, often lynching
Who was Emmet till
Emmet till was a 14 year old boy from Chicago who went to Mississipi to visit Family in 1955
Carol Bryant
A white woman said that Till made sexual advances on her when he went to her store.Till’s cousins who were waiting outside, said he only wolf whistled her
The next night Bryant’s husband and his half brother
Abducted Till and beat him severely.They shot him and threw him in a river with a weight around his neck.Till’s body was found three days later.
Till’s mother had an open viewing of the body in Chicago.This led to
Extensive media covergae , which fuelled widespread shock and outrage especially in the North as many were ignorant of the treatment of black Americans in the South.
The murder trial was reported nationwide but the
Defenders were dound acquitted ( found not guilty)
After his trial, More black people were
Being murdered in Mississipi and the killers were rarely convicted.For example the NAACP leader George W lee was also murdered in 1955
Media reporting of these injustices led to
A public outcry and spurred on the growth of the civil rights movement.
