75: Reconstruction (Part 3): The Rise of the KKK and the First Black Men in Government

“Boys, let us get up a club or society of some description.”

This is the story of Reconstruction peaking and its opponents organizing to fight back.

With Radical Republicans at the helm of Reconstruction, the former Confederate states are forced to make new state constitutions that include black men in the process. The outcome is nothing short of revolutionary. Black men not only come away with the vote but the ability to run for office! Black Americans like PBS Pinchback, Robert Smalls, and Robert Elliott are soon filling the highest offices in the land—even Congress.

But this change is far too radical for some ex-Confederates. When six Tennessean men form a social club, it quickly takes a paramilitary turn. Its former rebel members realize that the only way to restore the antebellum world they long for is through violence and murder ...  and they aren’t above resorting to such measures.
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“Boys, let us get up a club or society of some description.”

This is the story of Reconstruction peaking and its opponents organizing to fight back.

With Radical Republicans at the helm of Reconstruction, the former Confederate states are forced to make new state constitutions that include black men in the process. The outcome is nothing short of revolutionary. Black men not only come away with the vote but the ability to run for office! Black Americans like PBS Pinchback, Robert Smalls, and Robert Elliott are soon filling the highest offices in the land—even Congress.

But this change is far too radical for some ex-Confederates. When six Tennessean men form a social club, it quickly takes a paramilitary turn. Its former rebel members realize that the only way to restore the antebellum world they long for is through violence and murder ...  and they aren’t above resorting to such measures.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices