The Era of Reconstruction refers to the turbulent period starting 12 years after the Civil War in the 1860s, shifting American culture, economy, and politics. But, with white supremacy and terrorist organizations ruling the south, former slaves were prevented from integrating fully into American society. The political cartoon, “The Union as It Was,” was published in 1874, after the South was destroyed after the Civil War. The cartoon portrays how free blacks are now in a state of terror due to the KKK and various white supremacist groups who carried out attacks against the entire race. Shown in the image, a man with a hidden face, labeled “White League,” is shaking hands with a Ku Klux Klan member over an African American couple and their baby. A man is seen hanging from a tree in the background, suggesting that he had been lynched. The author, Thomas Nast, successfully depicts the chaotic state of America during the Reconstruction, demonstrating the racism and violence experienced by freedpeople that was “worse than slavery.”
Blacks were seen as competition to whites, therefore, many people in the South strived to make free people’s lives just as horrific as slavery, or even worse. Some southerners felt oppressed by the new “negro supremacy” and wanted to preserve a drastic racial hierarchy. For example, these people sought to recreate slavery through the prisoner-system and the Black Codes in Mississippi. Through these methods, free blacks could be arrested for just about everything. For example, if they were found gathering in groups or “unlawfully assembling themselves together”, they could either be fined or imprisoned. In addition, if a freedblack was found “with no lawful employment,” these punishments would also be appropriate. Similarly, state and local governments made laws designed to infringe on the new Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments in the Constitution, or the Civil War Amendments, demonstrating that even the government didn’t care about black freedom and rights.
Following the Civil War, the ideas and customs of the Ku Klux Klan emerged in the South to suppress and victimize newly freed slaves. These political and social terrorists sought to maintain absolute white supremacy in response to the Republican Party’s policies and the newly gained civil and political rights by southern blacks. The official recruitment to join the KKK demonstrates the secrecy of the group. Candidates to join the Klan are asked if they are “opposed to Negro equality.” In addition, the organization of the interview document demonstrates the size of the KKK, continuing to grow in the south during the Reconstruction period. Violence from the Klan was used to scare and intimidate freedpeople and anyone who helped free blacks. A former slave stated that, “the KKK sure run them out of the country,” demonstrating that people who helped and supported freed blacks were “punished,” or most likely murdered by the Klan. Blacks in America needed government and military protection, stated from a former slave that, “We are sheep in the midst of the wolves.” In this quote, “the wolves” refers to the members of the KKK, who carried out violence, discrimination, and intimidation against African Americans, further demonstrating the state of terror for free blacks.
