Black People have long been denied their civil rights in America. It might have been hoped that the Civil War would provide a turning point because on the one hand the constitution promised the beginning of the end of slavery by Lincoln issuing the Emancipation proclamation in 1862. Years later, the final 15th amendment was placed stating “right to vote should not be denied on account of race, colour or previous conditions of servitude.” However there was a loophole in this change, as it did not guarantee all men the right to vote or forbid states to introduce literacy, property, and educational tests for would be voters. An organization that issued violence and terror among Black and White people, The Ku Klux Klan played an important obstacle in the achievement of civil rights. However this was not the most effective obstacle, other factors including legal impediments, divisions of the black community, popular prejudice and lack of political party also played a main part in preventing civil rights in 1941. The most affective of these being Popular prejudice.
The Ku Klux Klan was a racist organization that was formed at the end of the American civil war to prevent freed slaves from achieving equal rights. Despite their popularity fall during the reconstruction period, the popularity of the Klan began to grow again in the 1920’s. The group acted as a barrier preventing black people from gaining civil rights through its methods. The Klan wore hooded robes and masks to hide their identity, whilst carrying out their brutal methods to intimidate Black Americans. The terror they caused was backed up using violence and could extend to include, kidnapping, whipping, beating, torture and lynching. Between 1885-1917, 2,734 Black lynchings took place. Along with violent intimidation, Black people struggled to