Comments on: how did reconstruction give rise to white supremacist movements?

By: Amanda M

Amanda M — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:15:50 +0000

Good question.
There is really no good answer except hatred. People loved to be able to blame someone or something else for their problems. The sad thing is it still goes on today. The reconstruction did not help. The south was beaten, their hatred went to anyone different from them including northerners and such. It became even worse when carpetbaggers came with money to buy homes that had been in families for generations. Greed is another factor as well. I hope this helps you out.

By: Sundog

Sundog — Wed, 07 May 2008 03:27:45 +0000

…Reconstruction meant that the federal government was running things. Reconstruction gave black men “equal rights”. Southerners hated that.
The southern economy was in a shambles. Southern white men were poor and jobless. This lead to an animosity that was directed towards the newly freed blacks in the form of violence and white supremacist groups…

By: Oscar Himpflewitz

Oscar Himpflewitz — Sun, 04 May 2008 08:34:42 +0000

~Duh, just a guess but I suspect the institution of slavery itself was the result of white supremacy movements. Reconstruction may have given a boost to folks like Nathan Bedford Forrest and the Klan, but the Jim Crow sentiment was alive and well in the north as well as the south long before the civil war.