Curbing Black Freedom: Klan Activities Toward White Supporters of Reconstruction
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Reconstruction was a particularly violent period in American History. Following Confederate defeat, violence, both rhetorical and real, swept across the region, state of Alabama, the Alabama-Mississippi line, and Tuscaloosa County. Beyond the African American community, Klan activities and anti-Reconstruction advocates also targeted white residents who supported Reconstruction project. Even University of Alabama personnel as well as other prominent white Tuscaloosa residents found themselves under attack. Neither Rev. Arad S. Lakin’s connections with the University nor E. Woolsey Peck’s placement on the judiciary shielded them from Klan harassment. [1]
The Ku Klux Klan hearings afforded a public forum for the white Tuscaloosa residents, University personnel, and African Americans to share their personal experiences in order to effect reform. It also provided a forum for Whitefield to diminish their claims regarding Klan activities. On June 13, 1871, Rev. Lakin testified before the Congressional investigators in Washington, DC. On November 3, 1871, Judge E. Woolsey Peck testified before the Congressional investigators in Livingston, AL. Their combined testimony reveals the Klan activities, a divided faculty, trustees, and administrators over University leadership after its Reconstruction-era reopening, and the role of Tuscaloosa newspapers in encouraging racial violence against individuals who supported Reconstruction policy. On the other hand, Newton L. Whitfield’s testimony on November 11, 1871 refutes their claims at the Columbus, MS hearings. |
"A Prospective Scene in the City of Oaks" was originally published in the Independence Monitor on August 28, 1868 and presented as evidence in the 1871 Ku Klux Klan hearing testimony of Rev. Arad S. Lakin.
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A pdf version of Rev. Arad S. Lakin's testimony is available here.
A pdf version of Judge E. Woolsey Peck's testimony is available here.
A pdf version of Newton L. Whitfield's testimony is available here.
A pdf version of Judge E. Woolsey Peck's testimony is available here.
A pdf version of Newton L. Whitfield's testimony is available here.
Notes
[1] See James B. Sellers, History of the University of Alabama, Volume 1, 1818-1902 (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1953), 298-313 and G. Ward Hubbs, Searching for Freedom after the Civil War: Klansman, Carpetbagger, Scalawag, and Freedman (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2015), 84-98.
Sources: “Testimony of Rev. A. S. Lakin,” in United States Congress, Testimony Taken By The Joint Select Committee to Inquire Into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States: Alabama, Volumes I (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1872), 111-159; “Testimony of E. Woolsey Peck,” in United States Congress, Testimony Taken By The Joint Select Committee to Inquire Into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States: Alabama, Volumes III (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1872), 1850-1868; “Testimony of Newton L. Whitfield,” in United States Congress, Testimony Taken By The Joint Select Committee to Inquire Into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States: Alabama, Volumes III (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1872), 1969-1993.
Sources: “Testimony of Rev. A. S. Lakin,” in United States Congress, Testimony Taken By The Joint Select Committee to Inquire Into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States: Alabama, Volumes I (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1872), 111-159; “Testimony of E. Woolsey Peck,” in United States Congress, Testimony Taken By The Joint Select Committee to Inquire Into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States: Alabama, Volumes III (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1872), 1850-1868; “Testimony of Newton L. Whitfield,” in United States Congress, Testimony Taken By The Joint Select Committee to Inquire Into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States: Alabama, Volumes III (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1872), 1969-1993.
