HFMLJ2_160803_316
Existing comment:
Man Wearing Ku Klux Klan Robe and Hood, circa 1870

This is one of the earliest known images of members of the Ku Klux Klan, founded in 1866 as one of many Southern vigilante groups intent on maintaining "white supremacy." For a century after the Civil War, African Americans were free but not treated as equals. Some angry white citizens responded with violence.
Proposed user comment: