Hate in 1872, Compared to Now

Cartoon circa 1868, Tuscaloosa, AL

Research isn’t boring. It’s thrilling because the chase leads to discovery.

Have a minute? Pop this Library of Congress source in a search engine: https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe.23700700/.

It’s an account by Zachariah Chandler, written in 1872. He chronicles the rise of the KKK. I’ve copied a section that sounds like the relationship between parts (not all) of the Republican Party to hate groups, including the alt-right movement. I’ve put in bold text to indicate connections from the past to today. (The Democratic Party in the 1860s and 1870s was a  great proponent of "Black Codes," laws that made blacks legally and socially inferior-- that explains the donkey with the KKK label.)

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The sworn testimony [in Congress] discloses the lamentable fact that in a majority of instances the outrages and violence in question have been perpetrated through the agency of intelligent, covert, and systematic organization and direction. It is a noteworthy fact that the more active scoundrels composing the order are reserved for deeds of violence, while the more influential and reputable members make themselves useful to the order in controlling public sentiment, furnishing bail-bonds for arrested parties, securing suitable witnesses, and influencing juries. It is these so called respectable and reputable people who assure newspaper correspondents and other inquiring minds that “everything is lovely” in their region. The desperadoes of Southern society find a welcome place in the Klan, and furnish suitable working material when there is to be shedding of blood and other deeds of violence. The fraternal relations which subsist between them and the influential chiefs of this political brotherhood, has an effect the very opposite of deterring them from threatening the lives of good citizens and disturbing the tranquility of our country.