University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1910-12-13
Reconstruction.
Run, niger, run!
The patterrollers'll catch you;
Run. niger, run.

Run. niger, run!
You had better get away
This was one of the popular songs
among the negroes just after the Civil
War. The 'patterrollers" were ghost
ly looking, seldom seen, yet always
present something's that hovered about
the negroes in the South and did more
toward rc-establishing white suprem-
acy in that section than anything else.
'Patterrollers'' were nothing more
than the common and ordinary men
of the old slave states. most of whom
We're organized into societies such as
the Ku klux klan. knights of the
White Camella. Pale Faces. and The
Brotherhood.
Though distinct in organization. yet
their methods of operation and ulti-
mate purposes We're so nearly the
same that members of any one ct
these We're generally referred to as
''KukluXes." The working negro man
was often heard singing Run. niger
rum" and to the children the old
nanny" would give reprovngly the
warning:
You'd sho' better stay close 10 yo
nanny, honey, else dem kukuxes'n
git you
The war over. the Confederate sold
ierS returned to their homes and set
about restoring 4 country that was al
most ruined as a result OF the four
years of inattention on their part and
the depredations OF the Union soldiers
and symDathiZers. Their slaves were
free. but peaceable. In many cases
the negroes stayed with their former
masters, who gave them work TO do
and houses in which To live 1t seemed
that the problem brought about by the
freeing OF the negroes was destined
TO work out its own salvation
But amendments to the Federal con.
stitution and Federal laws were
passed. giving these thousands Of ne
groes, just freed from slavery, civil
and political rights that were withheld
for time from the white men Of the
same part OF the country. Then. not
only were they ridded of their slaves
and much other property, but the.
now became subject TO the will of an
ignorant. superstitious and inferior
race of people. This even would not
have been so bad, had il NOT been for
the fact that the negroes were led by
degenerate men commonly known as
"carpetbaggers" and "scalawags."
The ''carpetbaggers' were men who
had come to the South for financial
and political reas ons, hence they found
il to their interest to do what they
could toward turning the negroes
against the old slave owners. The
'scalawags' were Southern men who
sided with the negroes in everything
that they did against the whites.
More despised than the negroes
who threatened to destroy the whole
political and social structure OF the
South. were these men who posed as
friends of the former slaves. Tn |
scrnpulous to the extreme. they never
hesitated to lead the negroes into any.
thing that would crafty their own
selfish desires. Because they aligned
themselves with the negroes and acted |
as their leaders. the white people on |
the other side, which was by far in |
The majority. held them in thorough |
and never hestateG to in
iict the regular 'Ku Klux" treatment
upon them.
From little social society formed
,y few young men in the southern
part of Tennessee in May, 1856. sprung
he effective "ku kluX Klan." about
which much has been said and written
md or which little is really known.
He name was derived from the Gree |
word "kuklos,' meaning circle. 1t was
purely local organization, and had
rs its purpose nothing more monu-
mental than would have any other
little fraternal club of a half dozen
It's main and perhaps its
,niy law, was secrecy and silence
Ihe dress OF its members was a long
white robe, on the front of which was
red cross, a mask and a high card.
BOARD hat. If mounted, the horse or
mule must be covered with long
white sheet of cloth. and the hoofs
we're padded
Just to friphten some norroos ,rho |