Historic+Occurrence



After the Civil War and the emancipation of African Americans in the United States, many people were left unsatisfied and discontented with this liberation. Among the most noticeable challengers were obviously people who fought to prevent this emancipation in the south. A fraternal organization called the Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1866 by Confederate Army veterans from the Civil War. Their ideology consisted on the white race supremacy, anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism, homophobia, nativism, and racism. They were especially focused and racism and racial discrimination at this time towards the recently liberated African-Americans. Their hatred and despise for African Americans was so immense that they often used violence and other methods in an attempt to intimidate and oppress African-Americans. This relentless aggression and hostility against these Africans with newly acquired liberty in the U.S. forced President Ulysses S. Grant to make an effort to obliterate this bias and evil organization with the Civil Rights Act of 1871. This law marked a temporary end to the Ku Klux Klan after it was revived about 45 years later in 1916 by William Joseph Simmons.

Significance and correlation with the novel: Jim was the constant and recurring example of the bias and racism an African-American would endure especially as a runway slave during the mid 1800's. The white supremacy thought lingered throughout the nation during this time much like what the KKK proclaims now. Most white people in the novel were racist against blacks and tried to put down, oppress, and harass blacks much like the Dauphin and the Duke. Most southerners detested blacks during this time period and were 100% against any abolition of these slaves. Out of the south grew this complete hatred for blacks which eventually induced them to create the Klu Klux Klan about 20 years after the novel was written.