How Successful Was The Ku Klux Klan
How far can it be argued that the activities of the Ku Klux Klan was the most important obstacle to the achievements of Civil Rights for Black people up to 1941?
Many obstacles -such as Jim Crow Laws, the Supreme Court decision and lack of political influence- prevented Black Americans from gaining equal rights up to 1941. However, the biggest obstacle they faced was that of the Ku Klux Klan; an intimidating, influential and secret organisation and its only concern was White supremacy. The KKK was founded in the 1860s to stop Blacks from achieving equal rights. They would terrorise anyone who wasn’t a part of the W.A.S.P way of life but they specifically targeted Black people, the Klan would torture and beat people. They still saw Blacks as slaves and therefore regarded them as second class citizens. The Klan was a secret organisation and so …show more content…
The politicians didn’t want to be seen as having strong opinions on Civil rights, as it would merely displease the majority voters all of whom were White and result in a loss of votes for their party, as so few Black people could vote. Also politicians found loopholes in the 15th Amendment (saw that Black Americans had the right to vote and shouldn’t lose that right because of their race), which allowed individual states to impose voting qualifications and this meant that the few Blacks who could vote then lost that right. These qualifications included rules like having to pay a poll tax, which the majority of the Black race could not afford. Also some states had literacy tests but even if they could afford it and passed the test, members of the Ku Klux Klan would stand outside polling stations and threaten or lynch any Black person who tried to vote; so as a result Black people could not elect anyone to oppose the Jim Crow Laws, which meant that there was no further advancement for Blacks gaining Civil
Many obstacles -such as Jim Crow Laws, the Supreme Court decision and lack of political influence- prevented Black Americans from gaining equal rights up to 1941. However, the biggest obstacle they faced was that of the Ku Klux Klan; an intimidating, influential and secret organisation and its only concern was White supremacy. The KKK was founded in the 1860s to stop Blacks from achieving equal rights. They would terrorise anyone who wasn’t a part of the W.A.S.P way of life but they specifically targeted Black people, the Klan would torture and beat people. They still saw Blacks as slaves and therefore regarded them as second class citizens. The Klan was a secret organisation and so …show more content…
The politicians didn’t want to be seen as having strong opinions on Civil rights, as it would merely displease the majority voters all of whom were White and result in a loss of votes for their party, as so few Black people could vote. Also politicians found loopholes in the 15th Amendment (saw that Black Americans had the right to vote and shouldn’t lose that right because of their race), which allowed individual states to impose voting qualifications and this meant that the few Blacks who could vote then lost that right. These qualifications included rules like having to pay a poll tax, which the majority of the Black race could not afford. Also some states had literacy tests but even if they could afford it and passed the test, members of the Ku Klux Klan would stand outside polling stations and threaten or lynch any Black person who tried to vote; so as a result Black people could not elect anyone to oppose the Jim Crow Laws, which meant that there was no further advancement for Blacks gaining Civil