nightrider

[ nahyt-rahy-der ]

noun

1. one of a band of mounted men, especially in the southern U.S. during Reconstruction, who committed nocturnal acts of violence and intimidation against Black people and Black sympathizers.

nightrider

/ ˈnaɪtˌraɪdə /

noun

1. a member of a band of mounted and usually masked White people in the southern US who carried out acts of revenge and intimidation at night after the Civil War

Derived Forms

• ˈnightˌriding, noun

Other Words From

• nightriding noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of nightrider¹

First recorded in 1875–80; night + rider

Example Sentences

The county had a long history of violence against African Americans, including the massacre of 13 Black Mississippians at a church, gunned down by nightriders on a single August night in 1871.

From New York Times

When I drove over Brown’s Bridge and into neighboring Hall County, I pictured hundreds of families fleeing the nightriders on foot, crossing the old wooden bridge with only what they could carry.

From Time

Several Lowndes County’s black residents who supported the protests said they had their own close calls, blaming them on white nightriders.

From Washington Times

The pirate and the nightrider are nothing to the fox, for romance and danger.

From Project Gutenberg

Other bands of nightriders responded to the names of "Pale Faces," "White Leaguers," the "White Brotherhood" and the "Constitutional Union Guards."

From Project Gutenberg