I'm not talking about the KKK. Incidentally, the KKK from the 1920's was founded as a primarily anti-Catholic organization, and Hugo Black worshiped at their altar. What I am talking about is the political dynamic in Alabama after Civil War. Now, Conservatives were restored to political control in 1874, and my ancestors played a large part in that. Following the resurrection of political control by Conservatives, the Redeemer Bourbons saw fit to dismantle the Reconstruction welfare state primarily engineered to gain the votes of poor whites in what had been loyal Union territory.
Make this clear, Reconstructionists didn't give a damn about blacks, they just wanted their votes in a machine like fashion so they could use the South as a testing ground for social experimentation. Following Redemption, taxes were cut, welfare was cut, and in general, the poor whites were back to where they were before the war. By this point though, many had become addicted to government aid, they resented the fact that Redeemers wanted them to stand on their own two feet. At the same time, manufacturing industries began to take off in Alabama, and these poor whites came in from failing farms in the countryside, all with the intent to gain employment. Class politics became the name of the game for the poor whites, and as such, movements like the Populists and Greenbackers gained steam. Racist attacks on blacks began to occur because blacks would take lower wages and demand less than would white workers, as a result, the leaders of Southern society often had to protect blacks from the hordes that would later disenfranchise them.
Populists finally took control in primaries in the 1890s across the South, and that's when you saw wholesale black disenfranchisement. A perfect example is Tillman in South Carolina, who made it a point to attack the Bourbons for their defense of black laborers. The populists would do the same here in Alabama. Sadly, it worked.
Poor whites before the War were the lowest of the low as even GWTW amply shows. They had few political rights as Slaver control was complete. Most could not even vote. Illiteracy high educational opportunities low to non-existent. Both crippled the war effort. Prior to the time in the 1890s you speak of a Reign of Terror had taken place against Blacks attempting to maintain their political rights. Political meetings in cities like New Orleans and Memphis attacked and attendees killed.
I don't particularly care whether the principle sources of oppression came from the CSA soldiers or their officers at different times.
Republicans did indeed care about Blacks and it was ONLY they who protected them as the Democrats tried (North and South) to allow their rights be taken from them. Lincoln's death was a severe blow against common people Black or White.