The assassination of Republican legislator Wade Perrin by the Ku Klux Klan illustrates the violent suppression of Black and Republican political power during Reconstruction.
Key Facts
- Date of murder
- October 20, 1870
- Victim
- Wade Perrin, SC House of Representatives member
- Perpetrators
- White men affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan
- Men charged
- 6 individuals
- Funeral location
- South Carolina House chambers, January 31, 1871
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Wade Perrin had just been re-elected to a second term in the South Carolina House of Representatives. Elections in and around Laurens County on October 19, 1870 triggered Ku Klux Klan-organized riots and coordinated violence targeting at least a dozen Republican members-elect, the majority of whom were African Americans, reflecting organized white supremacist resistance to Reconstruction-era governance.
On the evening of October 20, 1870, a group of Klan-affiliated white men intercepted Perrin in present-day Joanna, South Carolina. They forced him to dance, sing, and pray before ordering him to flee, then shot him dead. He was found in the street with his pockets turned inside out, suggesting a staged or ritualistic killing meant to send a broader political message.
Six men were ultimately charged in connection with Perrin's murder and the related killings of several other Black legislators under similar circumstances. The South Carolina House and Senate jointly honored Perrin with a funeral service in the House chambers on January 31, 1871, acknowledging the political nature of his death and the broader campaign of terror against Republican officeholders during Reconstruction.