*"Holden's
impeachment is demanded by a sense of public virtue and due regard to
the honor of the state. He is an exceedingly corrupt man and ought to
be placed before the people as a public example of a tyrant condemned
and punished."
--B.F. Moore
My great great grandfather, Father Of The NC Bar
*******************************************
Instituted
in 1862, the Union League came to North Carolina with the Union armies
and by 1866, along with the Freedmen’s Bureau, became active in
recruiting black men into the Republican party to be used politically. *
Scalawag Governor W.W. Holden was an early leader of the Union League in
North Carolina; murder and voting intimidation of white citizens was
encouraged among the black population, and for a black man to vote
Democratic was a death warrant though many voted with their white
neighbors In this political climate the Ku Klux Klan came into being.
See Jos. D.R. Hamilton’s “Reconstruction in North Carolina” for more on
the Union League.
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
"Unsurpassed Valor, Courage and Devotion to Liberty"
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
No Divulging Klan Secrets by Otho Fraser
“The
Ku Klux Klan, who were directly responsible for the redemption of
Alabama from [carpetbag] misrule, rejoiced in the re-election of
Governor [George S.] Houston in 1876, and many thousands of them paraded
in Athens, Alabama, Governor Houston’s home, to pay him tribute. This
was the last parade of the Ku Klux Klan at that place.
The
torchlights in this parade were decorated with banners on which
pictures of men who had believed in Negro rule were painted, half-black
and half-white. This unique idea was conceived and the pictures painted
by a young boy, Arthur Pepin, who was greatly applauded by the older
men, for the pictures were so life-like the faces could be recognized by
the immense number of people in the parade. The men thus caricatured
by the boy (who was true blue) were so frightened that they left the
town.
About
sixty worthy Negro men, who had been faithful to the white people
during the war and this dreadful time of reconstruction, and who voted
for Governor Houston, were in this parade, having been furnished with
horses by the Ku Klux Klan.
Otho
Fraser, a Negro man who is still living at Athens, Alabama, at the age
of 96, described this parade to me in detail, and is proud to have been
numbered among the Negroes who were shown by this act that the white
people appreciated their fidelity; he has always been a credit to his
race, and said to me that “If all the people in the world were at work
each day, making shoes as I do – or something else – there would be no
problems to settle for white or black.”
He
is shown great respect by the white people of Athens, and he has reared
a family of efficient men and women. At his advanced age he is
physically and mentally alert and says he knows many Ku Klux Klan
secrets which he will never divulge.”
Too bad a lot of people aren't a "credit to their race."
ReplyDeleteOr to humanity.
Delete