It was while my home was at Malden that what was known as the "Ku
Klux Klan" was in the height of its activity. The "Ku Klux" were
bands of men who had joined themselves together for the purpose of
regulating the conduct of the coloured people, especially with the
object of preventing the members of the race from exercising any
influence in politics. They corresponded somewhat to the "patrollers"
of whom I used to hear a great deal during the days of slavery, when I
was a small boy. The "patrollers" were bands of white men -- usually
young men -- who were organized largely for the purpose of regulating
the conduct of the slaves at night in such matters as preventing the
slaves from going from one plantation to another without passes, and
for preventing them from holding any kind of meetings without
permission and without the presence at these meetings of at least one
white man.
Like the "patrollers" the "Ku Klux" operated almost wholly at
night. They were, however, more cruel than the "patrollers." Their
objects, in the main, were to crush out the political aspirations of
the Negroes, but they did not confine themselves to this, because
schoolhouses as well as churches were burned by them, and many
innocent persons were made to suffer. During this period not a few
coloured people lost their lives.
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