Lynching involved mobs, usually dozens or hundreds of people, taking the law into their own hands to injure or kill someone accused of a crime. Between 1882 and 1968, over 4,700 people died from lynching in the US, with over 3,400 being black. Reasons blacks were lynched included trying to vote, disorderly conduct, or crimes against whites like rape. The KKK formed after the Civil War to terrorize blacks and suppress Reconstruction. Wearing robes and sheets, they burned churches and schools and drove thousands from their homes. Congress passed laws in 1871 to stop the KKK's violence, though few faced punishment.