nightrider

American  

[nahyt-rahy-der] / ˈnaɪtˌraɪ dər /

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.

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nightrider British  

/ 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

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Other Word Forms

• nightriding noun

Etymology

Origin of nightrider

First recorded in 1875–80; night + rider

Example Sentences

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

Miss Lucy, she is awful favourable to all this nightrider business.

From Project Gutenberg