A free online program hosted by the Western Office of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources will examine the formation of the Ku Klux Klan. Historian Steven Nash will present an in-depth look at the rise of the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction and its terroristic campaign against the biracial Republican political coalition that emerged in the late 1860s.
Highlighting themes such as taxation, misinformation, voter suppression, and violence, Dr. Nash will discuss the motivations and actions of the Ku Klux Klan as well as state and federal officials’ efforts to suppress it.
Dr. Steven Nash is an Associate Professor of History at East Tennessee State University. He earned his master’s degree in history from Western Carolina University in 2001 and his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in 2009. He is the author of Reconstruction’s Ragged Edge: The Politics of Postwar Life in the Mountain South (2016), which received the Weatherford Award for Nonfiction from Berea College and the Appalachian Studies Association. He also serves as president of the Mountain History and Culture Group, a non-profit support group for the Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace State Historic Site in Weaverville, North Carolina.
This free program will be held Thursday, March 10 from 6:30-8 p.m. To register and attend via Zoom, visit this registration link. For additional questions please call (828) 250-3105, email jeff.futch@ncdcr.gov, or visit https://www.ncdcr.gov/about/history/western-office.
About the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (NCDNCR) is the state agency with a vision to be the leader in using the state's natural and cultural resources to build the social, cultural, educational and economic future of North Carolina. NCDNCR's mission is to improve the quality of life in our state by creating opportunities to experience excellence in the arts, history, libraries and nature in North Carolina by stimulating learning, inspiring creativity, preserving the state's history, conserving the state's natural heritage, encouraging recreation and cultural tourism, and promoting economic development.
NCDNCR includes 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, three science museums, three aquariums and Jennette's Pier, 41 state parks and recreation areas, the N.C. Zoo, the N.C. Symphony Orchestra, the State Library, the State Archives, the N.C. Arts Council, the African American Heritage Commission, State Preservation Office and the Office of State Archaeology, and the Division of Land and Water Stewardship. For more information, please visit www.ncdcr.gov.