Black Communities Organize Armed Self-Defense Across South

Black veterans and community members organized armed self-defense units throughout Reconstruction. In South Carolina, legally constituted Black militia companies provided some protection for Republican governance until Redeemer governments disarmed them. In Colfax and elsewhere, Black men armed themselves to defend election results. Black response to the Hamburg attack included organized armed defense. Self-defense was a persistent strategy against Klan and White League terror even when federal