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Brief essay on ku klux klan
The Ku Klux Klan and its role in the USA
Rise of ku klux klan
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The Klu Klux Klan was actually started in 1865 by six men in Pulaski, Tennessee and their white, hooded guise was meant to mock ghosts. The name came from the Greek word kuklos which means circle and the Scottish word clan. During its beginnings the Klan was thought to be a passing guerilla organization which would last only as long as “Northern carpetbaggers, illiterate Negros, and Southern renegades ruled the Southern states” (Secret Societies). By 1868 there were five-hundred and fifty thousand member of the Klan, also known as Palefaces, the White Brotherhood, the White League, Knights of the White Camellia. Forrest realized he was losing control of the Klan in 1869 and ordered disbandment, an order that was never followed. At one point the Senate proclaimed that in nine counties of South Carolina, over a six month period, the Klan had lynched thirty-five men, whipped two hundred and sixty-two people, heckled innumerable people, and irritated, shot, disfigured, raped, or burned one hundred and three other people (Secret Society).
The Klu Klux Klan has long been a problem in the United States of America. Since the defeat of Confederate troops in the Civil War, many Southerners have seen the government as corrupt and imposing “intolerable oppression,” also many veterans had nothing to do during the economic depression (MacKenzie, 1967). This caused intense feelings of hatred towards the people some Sothern’s saw as their enemies, such as; black people. In the 1870’s President Grant enacted the “Ku-Klux Acts” which enraged the Klan all the more. The Federal government was now in charge of Southern elections and Klan members could be jailed without their right to habeas corpus (Secret Societies).
The size of the modern Klu Kl...
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Holthouse, D., & Potok, M. (2008). The year in hate; active U.S. hate groups rise to 888 in 2007. Retrieved from Southern Poverty Law Center website: http://www.splcenter.org/intelreport/article.jspaid=886&printable=1
MacKenzie, N. (1967). Secret societies. London: Aldus House.
Dahmers murder trial [Radio series episode]. (1998). In National Public Radio. Mississippi: NPR. Retrieved from http://infoweb.newsbank.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/iw- search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_act ion=doc&p_docid=0F58EBF849044293&p_docnum=8&p_queryname =8
Structure. (2010). Retrieved from http://kkk.bz/main/?page_id=43
Tucker, T. (2004). Notre dame vs. the klan; how the fighting irish defeated the ku klux klan. Chicago: Loyola Press.
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.
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.
The Ku Klux Klan has since fallen out of favor, in this modern day and age the Ku Klux Klan is affiliated with backwards “rednecks” who do not know any better. After the Civil Rights years government quickly intervened in Ku Klux Klan affairs, and quickly quieted the group. The Progressive Era Ku Klux Klan was popular, because much of the population shared the same ideologies as the Klan , not as extreme, but still shared some of the qualities of the Klansmen. The Ku Klux Klan’s rise in popularity in the early 1900’s is a reminder of the strong Nativist lifestyle and mindset of Americans in those times.
The Ku Klux Klan was the most prominent organization and was established in 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee. The original intent, a social club for former confederate soldiers, soon altered and changed to a terrorist organization. After the Klan was transformed into a terrorist organization, they were responsible for thousands of deaths and remarkably weakened the political power in the south of blacks and republicans. WGBH 1) Although many Americans associate Klan activity with the South, particularly Georgia and Alabama, the largest, most powerful states of the organizations were those of the Midwest, and especially Indiana in the early 1920’s where the Klan gained its greatest influence and highest level of membership for any state (Moore 2 ).
In the first few years of the Reconstruction, violent acts against the former slaves took place primarily in the south. In 1866, about one year after the civil war, the most well renowned terrorist group of the time, the Klu Klux Klan, took shape in Tennessee. In 1866, the Civil Rights Bill was proposed in Congress. At the time, it was referred to as, “one of the most important bills ever presented to the House for its action.”
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.
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 'Standard' of the 'Standard' The "Ku Klux Klan." UXL Encyclopedia of U.S. History. Sonia Benson, Daniel E. Brannen, Jr., and Rebecca Valentine. Vol. 5.
The American civil war was fought between 1861 and 1865. A civil war is a war fought between different regions within a country. The American Civil War was fought between the North and the South. Shortly after President Abraham Lincon was elected, eleven states in the south seceded from the union. After only being president for six weeks, Abraham Lincon declared these southern acts of succession as illegal. Lincon then requested that congress would allow him to use 500,000 soldiers to help crush the very threatening rebellion in the south. Massive sections in the south were destroyed in the process of the north attempting to regulate the south. Lands were destroyed along with social structure and economics. In 1862, Lincon began to liberate the slaves in the south. On January 1st, 1863, Abraham Lincon issued the emancipation proclamation. When the proclamation was issued it was clear that the war was now about slavery. The emancipation proclamation freed many slaves, but not all of them. It wasn’t until December in 1865 that the thirteenth Amendment was ratified. The thirteenth amendment states "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, nor any place subject to their jurisdiction."(US Constitution). When the slaves were freed, the southerners were frenzied because the slaves were their main way of achieving money. The hate towards the North caused a small group to transition into one of the largest hate groups in American history. The Ku Klux Klan was first formed in the town of Pulaski, Tennessee in the year 1865. The Ku Klux Klan first started as a fraternity group including six confederate veterans and lat...
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...
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.
The klan were formed by a group of men deeply opposed to all things associated with the reconstrucuion program. They despised the influx of carpetbaggers and scalawags in the south and were infuriated by the large number of blacks taking up political positions. The main aim of the clan was to strike terror into these pockets of society by masking their faces and carrying arms as well as resorting to lynching and vioeltn night raids. ‘The complicity of the democratic party and the silence of prominent whites in the face of such outrages stood as an indictment of the moral code the south had inherited from the days of
The Ku Klux Klan Act was passed in 1871, which allowed the congress to arrest or prosecute any acts of violence that were held by the Ku Klux Klan or any form of terrorism against any individual. The Ku Klux Klan was declared unconstitutional in 1882 by the United States Supreme Court. Unfortunately, Ulysses S. Grant did not enforce the law due to many factors such as finances and it being difficult to prosecute a...
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.
known as the Ku Klux Klan, the KKK in common terms. This group felt as