I beg to differ Republicans defeated the Ku Klux Klan. Southern Poverty Law Center was a side show.
lol.
Which republicans?
The most well-known opposition to black equality (well, other than the Democrat Party itself), was and is the Ku Klux Klan. Virtually every member of the KKK was an active member of, the Democrat Party.
In an effort to combat Democrat efforts, either directly as a party or through their terrorist arm known as the KKK, the
Republican Congress established the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute those persecuting blacks, in the process protecting blacks and the rights that had been extended to them. As history chronicles, this turned out to be more difficult than Republicans had hoped, taking another century before widespread and open violence against blacks by their Democrat tormentors would come to a merciful end (by then the party had learned to apply more subtle tactics to keep blacks oppressed).
Though Republicans continued passing laws protecting the rights of blacks, the power and influence of the Democrat Party/KKK rose over the coming decades, often through violent intimidation.
High profile blacks and Republicans were targeted for violent reprisals, and injury and bloodshed common.
Southern Poverty Law Center had a hand in suppressing the KKK, this is undeniable - but it's the Republican Party that battled them relentlessly for a very long time .