1871
Washington, DC, DC · On map
The Senate passed a resolution creating the Select Committee to Investigate Alleged Outrages in the Southern States to document Ku Klux Klan atrocities.
Supported by President Ulysses S. Grant, this investigation compiled critical evidence of Klan violence and helped justify new laws to protect American rights.
The inquiry prompted the formation of the U.S. Department of Justice and spurred mass prosecutions of individual KKK members.
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