Following the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan emerges to suppress and victimize newly freed slaves.

FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, contact us!

RELATED CONTENT

Four million slaves were formally freed when the Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863, but with the Civil War still raging, their future was far from certain.

Civil rights leader Medgar Evers was murdered by a Ku Klux Klan member, South Caroline ratified the Articles of Confederation, and John Walker Lynn called the American Taliban goes to trial in This Day in History video. The date is February 5th. The Ku Klux Klan member who killed Medgar was Byron De La Beckwith.

The Emancipation Proclamation refocuses the purpose of the Civil War to address the issue of slavery.

See how the Civil War prompted a quantum leap in warfare technology.

Find out what event turned the tide of the Civil War.

After being held for 27 years as a political prisoner, the newly freed Nelson Mandela stands before the United Nations on June 22, 1990. As deputy president of the African National Congress, Mandela delivers a speech to the Special Committee Against Apartheid and calls for continued economic sanctions against South Africa to help force an end to segregation.