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The Ku Klux Klan, formed in Pulaski, Tennessee in 1866, is an anti-African American group that terrorizes African Americans in the South even to this day. The Ku Klux Klan, otherwise known as the KKK, was founded at an instrumental time in American history- it was founded during the Reconstruction Era, following the Civil War. This was a time of tension between white Americans and black Americans; many whites in the South were upset that black slaves had been emancipated as a direct result of the Civil War, in which the southern Confederate States lost. This created the perfect environment for southern whites to band together for the common goal of white supremacy, thus creating the KKK. “At the Klan’s peak in the 1920’s there were more than …show more content…
The group spread rapidly due to the desire to maintain white supremacy. By 1867, there were branches who had organized meetings and assemblies called “The Invisible Empire of the South.” It was at this time that Nathan Belford Forrest, a Confederate General in the Civil War, became the first official leader, otherwise known as the “grand wizard.’’ The Klan’s presence expanded to most southern states by the year 1870. The article, Ku Klux Klan written for History.com, quoted that the KKK, “...became a vehicle for white southern resistance to the Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies aimed at establishing equality for economic equality for blacks.” The time period after the Civil War called the Reconstruction Era had new policies put in place to help protect the rights of the newly liberated African-Americans. Upset about losing the war and their free workforce, many white southerners did not agree with these Reconstruction policies. These policies created more of a military presence in the South, which was intended to help enforce equal protection under the 14th Amendment. This only angered the white community, thus giving them a motive to join organizations such as the KKK where they would be able to collaborate with people who had the same views as them. The Klan’s popularity steadily increased, and by the 1920’s, there were over 4 million members. Since …show more content…
This all come about from Klan members’ opposition to the 14th Amendment, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States... are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens...nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” This Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America simply states that everyone is equal under the law, regardless of race. Therefore, more African-Americans felt safe in their Southern communities. The KKK, however, didn’t like this, and they tried to reverse these policies in order to maintain white supremacy. The attacks that they organized were not publicly organized in the fear of being caught, but were instead the work of Klan vigilantism. The article, Ku Klux Klan (KKK)- Profile of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), written by Dr. Amy Zalman for terrorism.about.com, gives details about the gruesome methods of installing fear and terror. “They used a variety of tactics to harass and intimidate blacks and sympathetic whites including putting burning crosses on the lawns of individuals, arson, riding in groups by horseback near communities they wanted to frighten, and beating, rape and lynching…” Their signature white robes and
They hated anyone who was not a white Christian, and would go as far as to kill anyone who was not. This group is the Ku Klux Klan. This group of people were known primarily for their very Nazi-based ideologies, which in turn, they ended up murdering many who were not white, or even burning down the homes and business’ of those who weren’t. They were strongly against the progressive movement of the American Government toward the African American people. Although today this group has lost many in numbers, there are still a surprisingly large amount of people who are part 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 population of African Americans from 1865 to 1900 had limited social freedom. Social limitations are limitations that relate “…to society and the way people interact with each other,” as defined by the lesson. One example of a social limitation African Americans experienced at the time is the white supremacy terrorist group, the Ku Klux Klan or the KKK. The KKK started as a social club formed by former confederate soldiers, which rapidly became a domestic terrorist organization. The KKK members were white supremacists who’s objective was to ward off African Americans from using their new political power. In an attempts to achieve their objective, Klansmen would burn African American schools, scare and threaten voters, destroy the homes of African Americans and also the homes of whites who supported African American rights. The greatest terror the KKK imposed was that of lynching. Lynching may be defined via the lesson as, “…public hanging for an alleged offense without benefit of trial.” As one can imagine these tactics struck fear into African Americans and the KKK was achiev...
After the end of American Civil War in 1865, The Thirteenth Amendment was added to the constitution of the United States that stated “Neither slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have duly convicted, shall exist in the United States, nor any place subject to their jurisdiction.” By this no black people could be owned by the whites. In spite of this, blacks were severely segregated in the South. This resulted in the formation of anti-radical movement in the South called Ku Klux Klan organization which represented white supremacy by whipping ...
...manding, and we expect to win, a return of power into the hands of the everyday, not highly cultured, not overly intellectualized, but entirely unspoiled and not de-Americanized, average citizen of the old stock. The KKK has now come to speak for the great mass of Americans of the old pioneer stock" (Document D.) By 1923, Klan membership grew to five million. However, there was a sharp decline in members within a decade, showing how the new frameset of mind took over the old quickly. Accept the new, changing world around them. They represented the old, racist values long thought to have been delegated to the South.
that a majority of the South would have to take an iron clad oath that
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
Although abolition of slavery in the South coincided with the conclusion of the Civil War, a century of institutionalized racism was widespread in the former Confederacy. This institutionalized racism came in the form of the Jim Crow laws. It was a social norm to look at African Americans as inferior or even harmful to the White population. Groups such as the Ku Klux Klan roamed around "defending" the white population from the African Americans. This defense came in the form of public executions (lynching) or intimidation.
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.
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...
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.
In the spring of 1866, a year after the civil war had ended, six confederate veterans formed a social club in the town of Pulaski, Tennessee. Just out of the war and looking for excitement, they formed a secret society which they named the Ku Klux Klan. The name comes from the Greek word Kuklos, meaning circle. This small group started as a harmless, fun loving group, and developed into one of the largest, most violent groups in American history. The original group only lasted a few years, and left a permanent impression, rituals that people today still use.
...portunity, and rightfully so. The KKK has given more than enough validation for why they believe that they are simply making an attempt to save the white race. Our forefathers were of the white race, and if the Klan makes the point that by not mixing races in terms of marriage would preserve American culture, it is actually a justified statement from that standpoint. Although many people, including myself, would not agree with their opinions, the Klan has the right to hold their own beliefs. The Bill of Rights will always be relevant. They were written with our citizens’ best interests in mind. It was our forefathers' responsibility to ensure that our country would always be free, even centuries after the amendments were written. The Klan, although their beliefs may not be those of the general public, have and will always have the right to preach their own opinions.
They wanted to form a brotherhood after their loss in the war. Their leader Forrest was a Confederate General during the Civil War. The name, Ku Klux Klan, was a mix of Greek words specifically the word Kuklos meaning circle, or cycle. The first chapter was created in Tennessee, but the Klan quickly spread to Alabama, Mississippi, the Carolinas, and many other Southern States. The Klan developed in a South devastated by war and threatened with Social upheaval. It offered whites an opportunity to regain political and social control. Originally the KKK were mostly harmless. They became more violent as the abolishment of slavery became real and the idea of reconstructing the South surfaced. They rode around the streets of Pulaski at night in their cloaks scaring anyone who caught sight of them. They wore the white cloaks and hats, made of sheets, to scare the un-educated African Americans into thinking they were ghosts, and it worked. They also wore them to intimidate and scare anyone who supported what they were against. As they were becoming more and more violent they realized their real potential for power and control that they could have over their targets, and they took advantage of it. They began to severely injure or even kill mainly African Americans, Republicans, minorities, and anyone else who crossed them. They terrified
Black workers who had been confined to the South began to move to cities in the north to escape segregation, sharecropping, and racial violence. Access to jobs, housing, and public facilities became a major source of friction between blacks and whites. African Americans settled in all-black neighborhoods, and the largest was Harlem. Although it was a violent decade for African Americans, a powerful sense of racial pride gave birth to the Harlem Renaissance, the first self-conscious literary and artistic movement in African American history. However, the great migration of African Americans and the increasing visibility of black culture discomfited some white Americans. In consequence, a new version of the Ku Klux Klan emerged mainly due to post-war depression in agriculture, migration, religious intolerance, and nativism. Klan members considered themselves defenders of Prohibition, traditional morality, and true Americanism, and they were not only anti-black, but also anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic, anti-Communist, anti-immigrant, anti-alcohol, and anti-science. By 1924, the Klan reached its peak in members and influence controlling 24 state legislatures. However, in 1925, after David C. Stephenson, one of the leaders, was accused of a serious crime, followed by the prosecution of many Klan-supported politicians on corruption charges, the majority of its members left the organization.