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To: AzaleaCity5691

That is some funny stuff. The number of Confederate leaders who attempted to aid Blacks politically can be counted on one hand. The KKK was not formed by the lower classes initially but by one of the South's greatest generals. Nor were the members of the lower classes those who took over after the military forces were withdrawn.

Destruction of the Republican party and Black political power was the goal of the South's ruling class after the War. Loyal areas of the South, E. Tenn., Northern Arkansas, hill regions of NC, Alabama, had very few Blacks and were anti-slavery to a far greater extent than elsewhere.


97 posted on 06/25/2006 7:44:26 PM PDT by justshutupandtakeit (If you believe ANYTHING in the Treason Media you are a fool.)
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To: justshutupandtakeit

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.


105 posted on 06/25/2006 8:01:36 PM PDT by AzaleaCity5691 (6-6-06 A victory for reason)
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To: justshutupandtakeit
The KKK was not formed by the lower classes initially but by one of the South's greatest generals.

You have to be one of the most obtuse, ignorant people on this forum. It has been repeatedly posted to you that Gen. Nathan B. Forrest had NO part - NONE, ZIP, ZILCH, NADA - in the formation of that group. He did, however, advocate for it's TERMINATION. He was an advocate for civil rights and racial harmony, and was recognized for such by blacks, receiveing an award for his position of racial harmony and equal rights.

155 posted on 06/26/2006 7:20:17 AM PDT by 4CJ (Annoy a liberal, honour Christians and our gallant Confederate dead)
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