KKK Terrorism Campaign Targets Black Voters and Republican Officials, 1868

In the lead-up to and aftermath of the 1868 presidential election, the KKK conducted a coordinated terrorism campaign across the South. In Georgia alone, 336 murders and acts of violence were documented in congressional testimony. In Louisiana, over 1,000 people were killed between April and November 1868 to suppress Black voting. In Arkansas, KKK-allied groups killed over 200 people. Documented murders included the assassination of Arkansas Congressman James Hinds (Oct. 1868) — the first sitting U.S. Congressman murdered — and the killing of hundreds of named Black voters, teachers, and ministers.