15. Unions Would Also Threaten White Supremacy
The KKK was formed in 1865 for one reason: to keep African Americans subjugated and make sure that they did not exercise any of the rights that the national government conferred upon them. If African Americans began organizing, they might soon exercise rights as free and equal citizens.
White supremacists knew that they had to prevent Robert Hill’s plan to unionize sharecroppers from succeeding. The outcome was what came to be known as the Elaine Massacre, the biggest race riot in Arkansas history and one of the largest in the history of the United States.
