“The most successful terrorist group in the United States for almost 70 years was the Ku Klux Klan. They hated Catholics, Jews, and blacks. They were prone to violence. “-Pete Hamill The KKK is the hooded legend of the past, present, and likely the future of the United States. Their stories of death and destruction across the United States and the midwest have frightened many of color and those of certain backgrounds and delegations for years.The history of the secret organization known as the Ku Klux Klan, goes back to 1865. The Ku Klux Klan began as a social group for Confederate veterans after the end of the civil war. On December 24th of the year 1865, the secret society that would change a nation, was born . What would cause a dysfunctional …show more content…
Their targets were changing as the world changed. Determination of cleansing the world of lower classes allowed the Klan’s ideals to remain in the hearts and minds of some individuals. The extent in which members would go to in order to frighten and maim their fellow man brought confidence to others who wished to change the world in their own way. A new revival began in 1915 when white Protestant activists met to organize a revival of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia. At this time at the dawning of the century, many white Americans still held the idea “Old South” in their hearts as a dream to happen once more. As well as being inspired by many novels and movies, the tide of hatred was swelling in the hearts of Americans once more. The popular film, “Birth of a Nation,” produced by D.W. Griffith in 1915 as a silent screen epic, was inspired by Thomas Dixon’s novels: “The Leopard’s Spots” and more popular “The Clansman.” Dixon’s novels attempted to rationalize the activities displayed by the Ku Klux Klan. When Griffith decided to portray Dixon’s novels, the white knights were romanticized as heroes and protectors of society.While the Ku Klux Klan’s actions were seen as heroic, the movie often portrayed African American’s actions as barbaric due to them being the villains. African American’s were seen robbing and kidnapping the daughters of respectable white men in the film. The next …show more content…
We study the beginning of America and the movement of settlers into a new land. Then we look at the formation of the United States through the Revolutionary War. But nothing has ever changed this country from the inside as much as the Ku Klux Klan invasion into the country. The Klan’s influence and ability to cause destruction within a society inspired leaders and dictators such as Adolf Hitler. During the height of the Klan’s power and influence, it was doing many things right. It had attracted mass amounts of people with a simple message and used them to complete a secret agenda. Had the KKK continued to find new ways of bringing people to their cause and working to achieve superiority first, they may have caused an unforeseen amount of damage to the United States. Mistakes that were made by the members grew attention to them and caused society to see them as they were. The Ku Klux Klan of the modern day is still alive. It is barely breathing but growing and changing everyday. The hate will live on through the young, but the good people in the world are the key to truly changing the world for the
The KKK were Southerners, and also terrorists. They tried their hardest to destroy the Reconstruction and African American rights. I have a quote for my evidence. “The Klansman broke my door open, took my out of bed, took me to the woods and whipped me three hours or more and left me for dead,” (Colby 513). This proves the KKK would stop at nothing to destroy what they believed was wrong. Even though the KKK were a huge disruption in the Reconstruction, they didn’t completely destroy it. This helps me answer the question because it says that even though the KKK caused damage, it wasn’t all of
A few years ago, my mother told me something thought provoking: we had once lived on the same block as the leader of the local Ku Klux Klan chapter. That had been in Charlotte, North Carolina, around 1994. The Ku Klux Klan, according to Blaine Varney in Lynching in the 1890’s, used to “…set out on nightly ‘terror rides’ to harass ‘uppity Negroes’….” They are far more infamous, however, for their “lynching”—nightly “terror rides” that included murder—of African Americans. Varney tells us lynching levels reached their pinnacle in 1892, with 161 recorded murders that year. In modern times, most Americans would agree that the Klan, along with any form of white supremacy, has no place in society—and pointing out its survival is a good way to imply that we, as a people, are still not perfect.
The human mind interprets thought in a manner unique to their species. Each thought is expressed as an emotion, whether it be jubilation, sadness, anger or hate. The latter of these emotions is what I believe to be the strongest feeling that the human being can experience. In the face of hatred each individual reacts in their own peerless fashion. Some run in fear, while many speak out against such injustice; yet others react in a much different way—they embrace the hate. A prime example of a group of individuals that thrived in such an environment would be the second movement of the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan, reestablished in 1915, was not originally the potent force that they came to be in the middle part of the 1920’s. During the first five years of existence, the Klan only increased by four thousand; but during the next eight years nearly ten million men and women joined the ranks of the Ku Klux Klan. What events transpired that caused such a dramatic increase in Klan membership in such a limited time span? Leading Klan theorists of the 1920’s often pondered this question and it is my intention to examine their findings. Three prominent causes seemed to be found in these findings: the post-war feelings of many Americans, the natural aversion to anything foreign, and the various propaganda spread about and by the Klan.
The Klu Klux Klan was known for many things, one among them torture. They were an extreme terrorist group that did many things just to make the lives of different races terrible. Also, they held cross burnings and lynchings of black people. They justified their cruelty with passages from the Bible, and with their tainted ideas of morality. The KKK demonstrated that they thought they were superior over other races by terrorizing blacks and justified it through the Bible.
Prejudice comes in many forms. Two such forms of extreme prejudice are the Salem witch-hunts and the Ku Klux Klan. In the colonial time, from 1700 to 1775, the Salem witch-hunts took place. The KKK originated after the civil war and is still going on today. These two groups based their prejudice on religious beliefs. People from many different cultures founded our nation, which gives us a unique diversity that was and is not always respected. The Ku Klux Klan states they are based on Christianity and uses such symbols as the flaming cross. Burning the cross is supposed to represent “opposition to tyranny and obedience to God.” The KKK believes they are superior to all non-whites. The people responsible for the Salem witch-hunts feared and persecuted those whom didn’t share religious and personal beliefs. A way of testing your beliefs was being forced to recite the 10 commandments without falter. Ku Klux Klan often expressed their beliefs by putting burning crosses in non-white homes, setting homes and businesses on fire, and even hanging non-whites. In the same way, the witch-hunts would force those who were prosecuted to confess and incriminate, if not, they would be hung, burned, or in one case smashed to death. Both groups use Christianity against other people that differed from them. The KKK was an underground organization, and used robes and hoods to disguise themselves. Rarely did members become publicly known because they were denounced by majority of society. Public leaders such as, reverends and government officials conducted the Salem witch-hunts. The trials were often public events that were well attended by the general population. The Ku Klux Klan was not based on fear of non-whites, rather their own supremacy. While the witch-hunts feared those with different beliefs including what we would now consider, “mentally disabled.” What good are religious beliefs such as Christianity if they are twisted, warped, and used as an excuse for violence.
The KKK is a movement that has been very controversial since the Civil War. The Klan as they call themselves was created as a result of the occupation of Federal troops in the South. The KKK's purpose at the time was to provide the people of the south with the leadership to bring back the values of Western Civilization that was taken from them. In the 1920's the Klan had its most popular era. At this time the KKK was the most active politically then it has ever been in history. The KKK still exists today as a brotherhood and a new White racial community that lives and functions by the ideals it promotes. Today the Klan is in its 5th era and continues to be America's oldest and most effective White Christian Fraternal organization.
The Birth of a Nation (1915) is one of the most controversial movies ever made in Hollywood, some people even consider it the most controversial movie in the long history of Hollywood. Birth of a Nation focuses on the Stoneman family and their friendship with the Cameron’s, which is put into question due to the Civil War, and both families being on different sides. The whole dysfunction between the families is carried out through important political events such as: Lincoln’s assassination, and the birth of the Ku Klux Kan. D.W. Griffith is the director of the movie, and him being born into a confederate family in the South, the movie portrays the South as noble and righteous men, who are fighting against the evil Yankees from the North, who have black union soldiers among them, whom overtake the town of Piedmont, which leads the KKK to take action and according to the movie become the savior of white During this essay, I will focus on the themes of racial inequality, racism, and the archetypical portrayal of black people in the movie, which are significant, especially during the era when the film was released. Black face in Hollywood was very common, especially during the time the film Birth of a Nation was released.
White Southerners who hated blacks started the Ku Klux Klan in 1866. It was also called the KKK. They tried to stop black people from voting and having other civil rights. They would wear white sheets and masks with pointed hoods. They would beat up blacks and public officials. They would burn crosses by the houses of people they wanted to scare. The KKK was declared illegal in 1...
Many years ago the KKK was labeled a Hate group for obvious reasons. Lately a new group, Black Lives Matter have emerged in our society creating the same threat and domestic terrorism as the KKK. -Michael Hamilton of Denver,
Cries ring out in the dead of night from the black people of the southern states in Tennessee, as mysterious figures in white robes with hoods ride on their horses. To most they were thought of as the Confederate soldier’s ghosts riding and terrorizing the blacks. People wanted to know who these mysterious riders are and why they are terrorizing the black people of the south. Since they were wearing all white robes they could not tell their identity leading to more confusion. They became known as the Invisible Empire due to the fact that there were hundreds of them but nobody knew who they really were. Later in the Invisible Empires history we find out that these mysterious ghost riders are a part of the Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klan was an organization meant to preserve the southern way of life. They use forms of intimidation to scare the black people such as riding through the night on horses. It was first started as something for ex-confederate soldiers to do since they were not fighting the war anymore but soon these small threats and intimidation turned into a violent hate group. Through the Ku Klux Klan’s history we see its practices and beliefs evolve from a fun, social organization to a worldwide feared hate group.
I n 1921, the Klan was brought to trial for the murder of a black man who had been a known drunk in his hometown. Simmons, Klan leader, stepped up in front of congress and swore on the holy bible that the Klan “never had been and never will be involved in violent acts”.
The Ku Klux Klan has existed since the mid nineteenth century. The Klan has had periods membership numbered in the millions, whereas nowadays they do not have as much influence as in the past.What has ceased to change is the media depicting the Ku Klux Klan as a hateful group of bigots wanting to solely wipe out any non-white race. However, the media has not only surfaced many misconception but they fail to realize that the Klan is actually within US Constitutional rights. Because the Bill of Rights guarantees American citizens the freedom of speech and to peacefully assemble, the Ku Klux Klan has the right to continue their practices. With that being said, excluding some violent outburst conducted by Klan subgroups, no one has the right to stop the KKK from protesting, speaking their beliefs, or celebrating their heritage.
Racial and ethnic conflicts were growing and becoming more evident. On the one hand multicultural nation in the United States was still encouraged, on the other hand there was evident hostile attitude towards newcomers and foreigners. American society of that period revealed utterly negative perception of cultural diversity issues and this was forced the social and racial minorities, living in the country, be in the bottom of the social pyramid. Nativism of the twentieth century served the driving force to revival of the well-known Ku Klux Klan. “In 1915 William J. Simmons reorganized the secret society and addressed its duty as the safeguard of "comprehensive Americanism.” (Price 1999). After the World War One the new Klan was spreading rapidly all over the country. There were differences between the first Ku Klux Klan, which aimed at fighting against African American and whites supporting them. This time the geography of their activity was much greater and Catholics and Jews were also seen as enemies in addition to African Americans. The members of this organization were sure that their main target was to protect their
The Ku Klux Klan was a major factor in carrying the idea of racism. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was a secret organization that developed in the South after the Civil War of the 1860s.The organization would use violence and terror to frighten the freed African Americans and prevent them from taking advantage of their newly given rights, particularly the right to vote. Members from the secret organization would disguise themselves in white robes and hoods. The organization was short-lived due to the response of the federal legislation, who were able to destroy the organization and provide greater protection for African Americans and their rights.
The Ku Klux Klan was started by six young men who organized a fraternal club where they would wear costumes and ride around after dark. They soon realized they were instilling fear into the community, but predominantly in the areas where the former slaves were living. Seeing this effect they quickly gained members, and within a year they began to structure rules for their organization. Inciting terror was their first goal, but it didn’t take long for them to act out further by harassment, arson and even murder of not just Blacks, but also Northern teachers, judges, politicians, or anyone they felt went against their code.