Reconstruction Overthrown — KKK + Colfax 1873 + Hamburg 1876 + Mississippi Plan 1875 + Enforcement Acts + Supreme Court Rollbacks + Compromise of 1877 [TRAUMA-INFORMED]

Review L13: 2,000+ Black officeholders. Bridge: today we see how that interracial democratic possibility was VIOLENTLY OVERTHROWN. We apply MG-14b.

• Activate MG-15 (heavy content)
• Display MG-9 poster
• Pre-teach KKK + White Leagues + Red Shirts

Reconstruction OVERTHROWN by organized white-supremacist terrorism + federal abandonment 1877 — NOT natural collapse. KU KLUX KLAN founded Pulaski TN Dec 24 1865 by 6 Confederate veterans; expanded under leadership of Nathan Bedford Forrest (former Confederate cavalry general + slave trader + commander at Fort Pillow Massacre April 12 1864) as 'Grand Wizard' 1867+. By 1868 KKK conducting organized terrorism across South — assassinations of Black officeholders + intimidation of Black voters + church burnings + lynchings. WHITE LEAGUES (LA 1874+); RED SHIRTS (SC + MS + NC 1875+); KNIGHTS OF WHITE CAMELLIA (LA). COLFAX MASSACRE April 13 1873 — Easter Sunday; white-supremacist Democratic militia attacked Black-Republican-defended courthouse Colfax Grant Parish LA; ~150 Black men killed (some after surrender); 3 white men killed. Federal indictment 1874 of 97 white perpetrators but only 3 convicted of conspiracy; Supreme Court overturned even these in Cruikshank 1876. HAMBURG MASSACRE July 8 1876 — SC Red Shirts (under former Confederate Gen. Matthew C. Butler) attacked Black militia at Hamburg SC; 4 Black militia killed (Attaway + Phillips + Stephens + Myniart) + Black Civil War vet James Cook executed after surrender. MISSISSIPPI PLAN 1875 — coordinated campaign of intimidation + violence + electoral fraud by white Democrats; 8,000-9,000 Black voters in MS prevented from voting; Republicans lost MS state government 1875; replicated SC + LA + FL + NC + AL + GA + TX 1876-1877. ENFORCEMENT ACTS — Congressional response 1870-1871: First Act May 31 1870 + Second Act Feb 28 1871 + Third (KKK Act) April 20 1871 — gave federal prosecutors power to prosecute conspiracies under 14th + suspended habeas corpus in 9 SC counties Oct 1871; ~3,000 KKK indictments + ~600 convictions 1870-1872. Grant administration vigorous initially + then withdrew federal enforcement after 1872 economic depression. SUPREME COURT ROLLBACKS: Slaughter-House April 14 1873 narrowed 14th Privileges and Immunities; Cruikshank 1876 limited federal Klan prosecutions; Civil Rights Cases 1883 (8-1, Harlan dissent) struck down Civil Rights Act 1875. COMPROMISE OF 1877 — 1876 presidential election (Hayes-Tilden) disputed in FL + LA + SC + OR; Electoral Commission Jan-March 1877 awarded all disputed electors to Hayes (Republican) 8-7 party-line vote in exchange for withdrawal of federal troops from FL + LA + SC. Hayes inaugurated March 4 1877; federal troops withdrawn April 1877. Per Foner 1988: 'Compromise of 1877 was tragedy not because it was compromise but because of what was compromised — the rights of millions of Black Americans for political ambitions of a few.'

• Apply MG-7 Q9: any source framing Reconstruction as 'failing on its own' is incomplete + likely Lost Cause / Dunning School.

  model (1) KKK Pulaski TN 1865 + Forrest leadership 1867+ + Fort Pillow-Forrest continuity; (2) Colfax April 13 1873 — ~150 Black men killed; only 3 white convictions then overturned by Cruikshank 1876; (3) Slaughter-House 1873 + Cruikshank 1876 + Civil Rights Cases 1883 Supreme Court rollbacks of 14th + 15th enforcement; (4) Mississippi Plan 1875 — coordinated terror + electoral fraud; replicated SC + LA + FL + NC + AL + GA + TX 1876-1877; (5) Compromise of 1877 — Hayes-Tilden resolution withdrawing federal troops. Per Foner 1988 + Du Bois 1935 + Gates 2019 Reconstruction was OVERTHROWN, not collapsed.

  prompt Apply MG-14b RECONSTRUCTION-AS-BETRAYED — list 5 specific events demonstrating OVERTHROW.
• model Justice John Marshall Harlan KY (former slaveholder turned Reconstruction Republican) wrote lone dissent against 8-1 majority striking down Civil Rights Act 1875: 'It is, I submit, scarcely just to say that the colored race has been the special favorite of the laws. What the nation, through Congress, has sought to accomplish in reference to that race is, what had already been done in every State of the Union for the white race, to secure and protect rights belonging to them as freemen and citizens.' Harlan's dissent + later Plessy 1896 dissent ('Our Constitution is color-blind') marked moment when Supreme Court abandoned 14th Amendment's protective promise — and moment one justice named that abandonment as wrong. Per Gates 2019 Stony the Road Harlan's dissents are foundational for 20th-c civil-rights jurisprudence.

  prompt Why does Justice Harlan's lone dissent in Civil Rights Cases 1883 matter?

• Name 3 specific events of Reconstruction OVERTHROW.
• What did Compromise of 1877 do?
• Apply Q9: refute 'Reconstruction collapsed naturally' with 2 evidence pieces.

M-8-F-CIV-14-A Diagram

MG-9 — 18x24 wall display centered on PROMISE text 'Reconstruction did not naturally collapse; it was overthrown by organized white-supremacist violence and the federal abandonment of 1877.' 6 evidence panels: (1) KKK Pulaski TN 1865 + Enforcement Acts 1870-1871; (2) Colfax April 13 1873 (~150 Black Republicans killed); (3) Slaughter-House 1873 + Cruikshank 1876 + Civil Rights Cases 1883 Supreme Court rollbacks; (4) Mississippi Plan 1875 + Hamburg SC July 8 1876 + 1876 Red Shirts campaign; (5) Compromise of 1877 (Hayes-Tilden resolution withdrawing federal troops); (6) Scholarly authorities Foner 1988 + Du Bois 1935 + Gates 2019 + Blight 2001.

MG-9 Diagram

RECONSTRUCTION-AS-BETRAYED-PROMISE PROMISE Poster (MG-14b) — 18x24 inch wall display centered on PROMISE text 'Reconstruction did not naturally collapse; it was overthrown by organized white-supremacist violence and the federal abandonment of 1877. We will say so plainly.' Surrounded by 6 evidence panels: (1) KKK formation Pulaski TN 1865 + Enforcement Acts 1870-1871, (2) Colfax Massacre April 13 1873 (150+ Black Republicans killed), (3) Slaughter-House Cases 1873 + Cruikshank 1876 + Civil Rights Cases 1883 Supreme Court rollbacks, (4) Mississippi Plan 1875 + Hamburg SC Massacre July 8 1876 + 1876 Red Shirts campaign, (5) Compromise of 1877 (Hayes-Tilden resolution withdrawing federal troops), (6) Scholarly authorities Foner 1988 + Du Bois 1935 + Gates 2019 + Blight 2001.

M-8-F-CIV-14-B Map

Map of US South 1865-1877 plotting overthrow events: KKK Pulaski TN Dec 24 1865; Colfax Grant Parish LA April 13 1873; Hamburg SC July 8 1876; Mississippi Plan 1875; Red Shirts SC 1876 (Hampton's gubernatorial campaign); LA + FL disputed 1876 + Compromise of 1877 troop-withdrawal cities. Pattern shows organized regional campaign, not isolated incidents.

• Pairs: timeline 8 events of overthrow 1865-1877 + identify pattern (terrorism + court rollback + electoral fraud).

  scaffold 8-event card set
• Pairs: read Compromise of 1877 + Hayes-Tilden Commission documents + apply MG-14b.

  scaffold Compromise documents

M-8-F-CIV-14-C Diagram

Timeline of 8 events 1865-1877: (1) Dec 24 1865 KKK Pulaski TN; (2) 1866-1867 KKK + Forrest expansion; (3) 1870-1871 Enforcement Acts; (4) April 13 1873 Colfax; (5) April 14 1873 Slaughter-House; (6) 1875 Mississippi Plan; (7) July 8 1876 Hamburg + March 1876 Cruikshank; (8) Compromise of 1877. Each with brief description + organized-violence vs federal-court-rollback vs electoral-fraud label.

• Where + when KKK founded? Who became Grand Wizard?
• When Colfax + how many Black men killed?
• Apply MG-14b: what does 'overthrown not collapsed' mean?

• COMPASSION CIRCLE close (MG-15)
• Add 1 sticky to MG-6
• Preview L15: Lost Cause mythology construction + UDC + Birth of a Nation + Dunning

• Read 1-page excerpt from Foner 1988 OR Du Bois 1935 OR Gates 2019 on overthrow; write 1 paragraph applying MG-14b.