Discover the pivotal role of Ulysses S. Grant in the battle against the Ku Klux Klan in our latest webinar, featuring acclaimed historian and author Fergus M. Bordewich. Together, we explored his latest book, “KLAN WAR: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction.“
In this compelling historical account, we learn about the first national anti-terrorism campaign waged on American soil. Bordewich challenges the traditional perception of Ulysses S. Grant as a weak president. Instead, he portrays him as a powerful advocate for civil rights who used the federal government’s power to combat the Klan’s violent campaign against newly liberated Black Americans and their allies.
This book takes us to the front lines, detailing events in the former Confederate States and the political battles within Congress. It highlights the efforts of grassroots Black leaders and key figures, such as Senator Carl Schurz, who sacrificed the rights of Black Americans in the name of political “reform,” and Nathan Bedford Forrest, a ruthless former slave trader and Klan leader.
We took a closer look at a critical period after the Civil War when the Ku Klux Klan, which Bordewich defines as “the first organized terrorist movement in American history,” emerged as a major threat, and their violent efforts to obstruct progress during Reconstruction.
Additionally, our discussion shed light on the ongoing struggle to protect civil rights and the need for continued efforts to combat hate groups and white supremacist ideologies.
Fergus M. Bordewich has been an independent writer, historian, and journalist since the early 1970s. In 2015, he served as chairman of the awards committee for the Frederick Douglass Book Prize, given by the Gilder-Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, at Yale University. He is a frequent public speaker at universities and other forums, as well as on radio and television. His articles have appeared in many magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian, American Heritage, Atlantic, Harper’s, New York Magazine, GEO, Reader’s Digest, and others. As a journalist, he traveled extensively in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, writing on politics, economic issues, culture, and history, on subjects ranging from the civil war in Burma, religious repression in China, Islamic fundamentalism, German reunification, the Irish economy, Kenya’s population crisis, among many others. He also wrote the script for a PBS documentary about Thomas Jefferson and the founding of the University of Virginia: Mr. Jefferson’s University.
Bordewich is the author of nine non-fiction books: KLAN WAR: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction, (Alfred A. Knopf, 2023); CONGRESS AT WAR: How Republican Reformers Fought The Civil War, Defied Lincoln, Ended Slavery, And Remade America, (Alfred A. Knopf, 2020); THE FIRST CONGRESS: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government (Simon & Schuster, 2016. Winner of the 2019 D.B. Hardeman Prize), AMERICA’S GREAT DEBATE: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the Compromise that Preserved the Union (Simon & Schuster, 2012. Winner of the 2012 Los Angeles Times History Prize); WASHINGTON: The Making of the American Capital (Amistad/HarperCollins, 2008); BOUND FOR CANAAN: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America (Amistad/HarperCollins, 2005); MY MOTHER’S GHOST, a memoir (Doubleday, 2001); KILLING THE WHITE MAN’S INDIAN: Reinventing Native Americans at the End of the Twentieth Century (Doubleday, 1996); and CATHAY: A Journey in Search of Old China (Prentice Hall Press, 1991).
The Ku Klux Klan, which celebrated historian Fergus Bordewich defines as “the first organized terrorist movement in American history,” rose from the ashes of the Civil War. At its peak in the early 1870s, the Klan boasted tens of thousands of members, no small number of them landowners, lawmen, doctors, journalists, and churchmen, as well as future governors and congressmen. Their mission was to obliterate the muscular democratic power of newly emancipated Black Americans and their white allies, often by the most horrifying means imaginable.
To repel the virulent tidal wave of violence, President Ulysses S. Grant waged a two-term battle against both armed Southern enemies of Reconstruction and Northern politicians seduced by visions of postwar conciliation, testing the limits of the federal government in determining the extent of states’ rights. In this book, Bordewich transports us to the front lines, in the hamlets of the former Confederate States and the marble corridors of Congress, reviving an unsung generation of grassroots Black leaders and key figures such as crusading Missouri senator Carl Schurz, who sacrificed the rights of Black Americans in the name of political “reform,” and the ruthless former slave trader and Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Ulysses S. Grant, mwanzilishi wa Ku Klux Klan, aliwahi kuwa na jukumu kubwa katika vita dhidi ya Ku Klux Klan, na alikuwa na jukumu muhimu katika kuanzisha kundi la Ku Klux Klan. "Kwanza, kitabu chake cha kwanza, ""Klan War: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction"" kinaelezea vita vya kwanza vya kimataifa dhidi ya ugaidi nchini Marekani." Bordewich anashindana na maoni ya jadi ya Ulysses S. Grant kama rais dhaifu. Badala yake, anamwonyesha kama mtetezi mwenye nguvu wa haki za kiraia ambaye alitumia nguvu za serikali ya shirikisho kupambana na kampeni ya vurugu ya Klan dhidi ya Wamarekani weusi waliowekwa huru na washirika wao. Kitabu hiki kinatuchukua kwenye mstari wa mbele, kinachotoa matukio katika majimbo ya zamani ya Confederate na mapigano ya kisiasa ndani ya Bunge. "Hii ni pamoja na juhudi za viongozi wa msingi wa weusi na takwimu muhimu, kama vile Seneta Carl Schurz, ambaye alitoa haki za Wamarekani weusi kwa jina la ""marekebisho ya kisiasa,"" na Nathan Bedford Forrest, mfanyabiashara wa zamani wa watumwa na kiongozi wa Klan." "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, ""Kuku Klux Klan, ambayo Bordewich inaita ""harakati ya kwanza ya kigaidi iliyoandaliwa katika historia ya Marekani,"" ilijitokeza kama tishio kubwa, na juhudi zao za vurugu za kuzuia maendeleo wakati wa Ujenzi." "Kwa kuongezea, majadiliano yetu yalitoa mwangaza juu ya mapambano yanayoendelea kulinda haki za kiraia na hitaji la juhudi za kuendelea kupambana na vikundi vya chuki na itikadi za ukandamizaji wa wazungu. """ Fergus M. Borduich ni mwandishi wa habari, mwanahistoria na mwandishi wa habari wa zamani wa Marekani. Mwaka 2015 alishiriki katika tuzo ya Frederick Douglass Book Prize, iliyotolewa na Kituo cha Gilder-Lehman cha Utafiti wa Utumwa, Upinzani na Ukomo, Chuo Kikuu cha Yale. Yeye ni msemaji wa kawaida katika vyuo vikuu na vikao vingine, pamoja na redio na televisheni. Makala zake zimechapishwa katika magazeti na magazeti mengi, ikiwa ni pamoja na New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian, American Heritage, Atlantic, Harper's, New York Magazine, GEO, Reader's Digest, na wengine. Kama mwandishi wa habari, alisafiri sana Asia, Mashariki ya Kati, Ulaya, na Afrika, akiandika juu ya siasa, masuala ya kiuchumi, utamaduni, na historia, juu ya mada mbalimbali kutoka vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe nchini Burma, ukandamizaji wa kidini nchini China, fundamentalism ya Kiislamu, kuunganishwa tena kwa Ujerumani, uchumi wa Ireland, mgogoro wa idadi ya watu nchini Kenya, na wengine wengi. Pia aliandika script kwa ajili ya PBS documentary kuhusu Thomas Jefferson na kuanzishwa kwa Chuo Kikuu cha Virginia: Mheshimiwa Jefferson Chuo Kikuu. "Kongresa ya Marekani: Jinsi Wafuasi wa Chama cha Republican Walivyopigana Vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe, Walipinga Lincoln, Walizimisha Utumwa, na Kuunda upya Amerika (Alfred A. Knopf, 2020) na ""Kongresa ya Kwanza: Jinsi James Madison, George Washington, na Kikundi cha Wanaume wa Kipekee Walivyounda Serikali"" (Simon & Schuster, 2016) " Mshindi wa 2019 DBA "Hardeman Prize, ""Mjadala Mkubwa wa Amerika: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, na Upatano Uliodumisha Muungano"" (Simon & Schuster, 2012) " "Wachezaji wa filamu hiyo ni: ""The Making of the American Capital"" (Amistad, HarperCollins, 2008), ""The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America"" (Amistad, HarperCollins, 2005), ""My Mother's Ghost"" (Doubleday, 2001), ""King of the Indian Invasion: Inventing Native Americans at the End of the Twentieth Century"" (Doubleday, 1996), na ""Cathay: A Journey in Search of Old China"" (Prentice Hall Press, 1991)." Ku Klux Klan, ambayo mwanahistoria maarufu Fergus Bordewich hufafanua kama "harakati ya kwanza ya kigaidi iliyopangwa katika historia ya Marekani", ilijitokeza kutoka kwa majivu ya Vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe. Wakati wa kilele chake katika miaka ya 1870, Klan ilijivunia maelfu ya wanachama, wengi wao walikuwa wamiliki wa ardhi, wanasheria, madaktari, waandishi wa habari, na waumini wa kanisa, na pia magavana na wabunge wa baadaye. "Ujumbe wao ulikuwa kuharibu nguvu ya kidemokrasia ya nguvu ya Wamarekani weusi waliopatikana huru na washirika wao weupe, mara nyingi kwa njia ya kutisha zaidi inayoweza kuwaziwa. """ Ili kukomesha wimbi la vurugu, Rais Ulysses S. Grant alianzisha vita vya muda mrefu dhidi ya maadui wa kusini wa Ujenzi na wanasiasa wa Kaskazini waliopendwa na maono ya amani ya baada ya vita, akijaribu mipaka ya serikali ya shirikisho katika kuamua kiwango cha haki za majimbo. Katika kitabu hiki, Bordewich anatupeleka kwenye mstari wa mbele, katika vijiji vya zamani vya Confederate States na korido za marumaru za Bunge, akiamsha kizazi kisichojulikana cha viongozi weusi wa msingi na takwimu muhimu kama vile msemaji wa Missouri Carl Schurz, ambaye alitoa haki za Wamarekani weusi kwa jina la "marekebisho" ya kisiasa, na mtendaji wa zamani wa watumwa na kiongozi wa Bedford Klan Nathan Forrest.