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Ku klux klan history essay
Ku klux klan in the 1860s and 1920
Ku klux klan history essay
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A modern-day monster takes shape in the form of the Ku Klux Klan due to the interacial and international fear they incite. Founded in 1865, the Klan began as a movement against economic equality for everyone. Their approach to white supremacy was emphasized in their violent attacks and bombings throughout the nation. In 1915, the Klan was revitalized and took a stance not only against African Americans, but now Roman Catholics, Jews, and Immigrants. This stance against several personal freedoms demonstrates their insular views on the world. The Klan opposes anyone who differs from their specific beliefs; not only do they carry a specific mindset, but they work towards this mindset in a violent manner using intimidation. “KKK members wore elaborate
costumes with distinctive white hoods to mask their identities, and held nocturnal rallies to plot acts of terror and foment hatred against people deemed not “truly” American — basically, anyone who was not white and Protestant” (Getchell). With unidentifiable costumes, the Klan remained feared within communities. “So, while the KKK originated after the Civil War as a distinctly southern effort to preserve the antebellum racial order, its presence has extended well beyond that region throughout the 20th and 21st centuries” (Cunningham) The Klan still remains an active, modern-day monster.
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 1920s were a time of change for the United States. Following the First World War there was a rush of new cultural, social, and artistic dynamism, partly fuelled by the Progressivism movement that was cut short when American entered the Great War. This decade was defined by a change from more rural farm life to industrialism in big cities. The shift from the frugality and traditional family values or previous generations to the happy-go-lucky consumerism and metropolitan life occurred more rapidly than any other social shift in living memory. These swiftly changing tides caused cultural clashes and confrontations throughout the decade as America struggled to define for itself a fresh national identity in the wake of its new position as a world power.
Hooded Americanism: The First Century of the Ku Klux Klan: 1865 to the Present by David Chalmers records the history of the Ku Klux Klan quite bluntly, all the way from its creation following the civil war, to the early 1960’s. The author starts the book quite strongly by discussing in detail many acts of violence and displays of hatred throughout the United States. He makes a point to show that the Klan rode robustly throughout all of the country, not just in the southern states. The first several chapters of the book focus on the Klan’s creation in 1865. He goes on to discuss the attitude of many Americans following the United State’s Civil War and how the war shaped a new nation. The bulk of the book is used to go through many of the states, and express the Klan’s political influence on both the local and state governments. The author starts with Texas and Oklahoma, and goes through the history of the Klan geographically, finishing with New Jersey and Washington. The author stresses that the KKK did not just commit acts of violence towards minorities, but also carried political power. He continues to discuss the impact of the Klan on Civil Rights movements in the 1960’s, and various other important political controversies between the 1920’s and 1970’s. Towards the middle of the book, David M. Chalmers focuses on portraying the feelings of governments and state legislatures, as well as normal citizens towards the Klan. To do this more effectively, the author uses excerpts and quotes from editorials and newspapers, along with several dozen pictures. The conclusion of the book was used mainly as an overview of all of the major incidents and deaths involving the Klan, and how their persistence has allowed them to still exist today despite a lack of resources and support.
(Niblack 192-193) Although Klan groups were most present between 1865 and 1965, and most active in Indiana in the 1920’s, isolated pockets of Klansmen remain today. Unfortunately, prejudices, fear, intolerance, racism, labeling, discrimination, feelings of superiority, white supremacy, and judging of others all continue to exist in our world. The attitude of John Lewis Niblack and other Indiana residents like him is what helps to keep organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan dormant in our state. Why can we not just live in peace and harmony with one another and respect each other's differences?
After World War II, “ A wind is rising, a wind of determination by the have-nots of the world to share the benefit of the freedom and prosperity” which had been kept “exclusively from them” (Takaki, p.p. 383), and people of color in United States, especially the black people, who had been degraded and unfairly treated for centuries, had realized that they did as hard as whites did for the winning of the war, so they should receive the same treatments as whites had. Civil rights movement emerged, with thousands of activists who were willing to scarify everything for Black peoples’ civil rights, such as Rosa Parks, who refused to give her seat to a white man in a segregated bus and
When someone looks at the Klu Klux Klan’s hood and cloak, they remember the lynchings, the murders, and the place that it still holds in today’s society.
"Ku Klux Klan." UXL Encyclopedia of U.S. History. Sonia Benson, Daniel E. Brannen, Jr., and Rebecca Valentine. Vol. 5. Detroit: UXL, 2009. 882-884. U.S. History in Context. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
Since the beginning of time, history has seen countless amounts of prejudices and years filled with hatred- some happenings of which were not recorded, and others of which were too atrocious to leave out of the pages of time. Because history has been recorded as accurate as possible, evidence proves that history repeats itself. The Ku Klux Klan of the 19th century and the infamous Nazi Party in Germany of the early 1900s are an example of the repetition of growing prejudices throughout history. Although the main targets of each group differed, both were unjust to the minority in their country and used extreme actions to achieve what they believed was just; their beliefs and rituals were important factors that lead to the death of millions of human beings.
All the hate groups know that they can only flourish if they continue to recruit new members. Three of the most obvious similarities among hate groups members are their sex, male; their race, Caucasian; and their age, 35 years old or younger. Many people think that the reason young people are willing to join hate groups in high school and in college is that they are uncertain about their own futures. Often people believe that the young people who join hate groups are those with the least education and the least to hope for in the future in the way of jobs, but that does not follow anymore because hate has flourished on colleges and high school campuses. For members of the Ku Klux Klan, it is important that their message of hatred be carried to young people. The initiation of children and babies has being an important part of the Klan activities. It is so bad and wrong that the Ku Klux Klan has even gone so far as to hang out at playgrounds. They look for little boys who play unsupervised. The Klan believes that these boys are potential members of the Klan because their parents do not care enough to watch them play. The child is probably growing up in a dysfunctional family that gives him little attention and when he is older he will cling to the Klan because membership in this group will provide him with a strong family structure that his ...
The KKK or Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1866 in Pulaski, Tennessee by former Confederate Soldiers. Some of the founders of this organization consisted of; Captain John Lester, Major James Crowe, and Richard Reed to name a few. Their main target at the time was blacks and any white person that stood with them. The Ku Klux Klan was the head of the racism movement in America. Being a hate group among minorities, they made them live in terror day in and day out. The KKK was the most feared group of people in the 1860’s.
The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre is identified as one of the bloodiest and least discussed massacres in United States history. Tulsa was the first US city attacked by air when the white majority turned on the black minority. In a bold move to embrace a shared, painful history and promote honest dialogue, a delegation consisting of 10 Tulsans told their different perspectives and understanding of the city's past. Included in the delegation was a past elected city official, librarian, educator and historians. Descendants of the massacre referenced today's value with relation to the economic loss their families suffered. Educator, Dr. Anthony Marshall, drew the striking diagram of what the city would look like today had the victimized half of the community thrived financially
For the soldiers and families that had fought in the Civil War for years, the end meant victory; it meant that slavery would be abolished and things would turn for the better. All the suffering enslaved people had previously suffered would be over and the South would no longer be able to mistreat them. Finally, all men would be equal. This vision seemed like a happily ever after for America, a justice that was finally served. However, this dream never became reality. When the Civil War is thought of today, most see a valiant effort to rid America of slavery forever, and stop the vastly unequal practices that many white Americans relied on. The war is seen as its own story, beginning with people who were kept as property, and ending with the
"Hatred and Profits: Getting Under the Hood of the Ku Klux Klan." NBER. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014. .
“Where slavery is, there liberty cannot be; and where liberty is, there slavery cannot be.” these words were spoken on January 1, 1863, as the United States neared it’s third year of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This document states that all people that had previously been know as slaves were free. This startled many people and many White Supremacist groups were conducting a reign of terror throughout the South. One of the most prevalent of these groups would be the Klu Klux Klan. The KKK set back America in becoming accepting of other races and made it socially acceptable to express racism in public.
There is no reason to why a hateful terrorist organization should be able to get away with violent and evil hate crimes within a country with laws protecting each and every one of its citizens. The Ku Klux Klan has been a hateful, violent group that needs to be stopped.