Humphry Curtis deposition regarding KKK murders, 1868 November 5

Summary

Creator:
Curtis, Humphry
Date:
1868 November 5
Extent:
1 folder(s)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Humphry Curtis deposition regarding KKK murders, ms3604, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia Libraries.

Background

Scope and content:

Humphry Curtis' deposition regarding Ku Klux Klan intimidation related to the Election of 1868. The document describes a racially motivated murder to which Humphry Curtis was witness in which a group of KKK members dragged his father William Curtis out of his home and shot him several times.

Biographical / historical:

The first iteration of the Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee, by veterans of the Confederate Army in response to Reconstruction era policies that offered African Americans new liberties. The Klan targeted freedmen and their associates and frequently used threats, violence, and murder to intimidate them. The 1868 Presidential election was the first since the Civil War and the murder documented by this deposition was most likely committed in effort to keep African Americans from voting.

Access and use restrictions

Preferred citation:

Humphry Curtis deposition regarding KKK murders, ms3604, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia Libraries.