Lynching’s, bombing, assassinations, and shootings are a few of the many ways that a secret White supremacist group otherwise known as the Ku Klux Klan used to bring terror to the hearts of Civil Rights Activist. “White power, White pride, Worldwide” was an iconic motto for the Ku Klux Klan. Ironically, in To Kill a Mockingbird Bob Ewell seemed to follow the motto, making you wonder, was Bob Ewell a member of the Ku Klux Klan? Bob Ewell’s constant suppression of Tom Robinson led to Tom’s imprisonment and finally death (Lee). The suppression of Blacks is characteristic of the Ku Klux Klan’s ideology. The Ku Klux Klan was a complex organization that affected the Civil Rights Movement; the Klan had many goals, terrorized many people, and left a deep impacting result on the lives of many people.
The Ku Klux Klan emerged in two phases from the South during the Civil Right Era with goals to destroy the Civil Rights Movement. Initially “a prankish social organization in Pulaski, Tennessee” formed by “six former confederate army officers in 1865” (Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia), “quickly turned violent” (Leonard) over political direction. The Ku Klux Klan started as fun and games but over time it turned serious. First it started with pulling pranks on African Americans, and then it turned to hurting and finally killing them. Tennessee was the ideal place for the Klan to gain power as Tennessee was known to have a high concentration of Blacks, and came up with many Jim Crow Laws. “The second Ku Klux Klan was organized by William J. Simmons, a Methodist minister in 1915” (“Social Causes”), also had many goals, one of the main being to maintain “White supremacy” (John) and to prevent “the rise of former slaves to a status of civil e...
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...lux Klan Logo.” Illustration. n.d. Ku Klux Klan. Blogger US History Class. Web. 01 December. 2013.
“Ku Klux Klan.” (n.d.): Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2000. Print.
Moore, Leonard J. “Ku Klux Klan.” Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kitler. 3rd ed. Vol. 4. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2003. 551-553. Student Resources in Context. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
Popham, John N. “KKK in the Civil Rights Era.” Terrorism: Essential Primary Sources. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 332-335. Student Resources in Context. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
“Social Causes.” Terrorism Reference Library. Ed. Matthew May, James L. Outman, and Elisabeth M. Outman. Vol. 1: Alamanac. Detroit: UXL, 2003. 147-169. Student Resources in Context. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
The Moore’s Ford lynching shows that the Ku Klux Klan was still very powerful in Georgia just after the Second World War. Blacks who lived in these areas which were overwhelmingly rural and contained large plantations owned by white men were regularly browbeaten into submission by the white minority and sporadic outbreaks of violence were not uncommon. There was a wealth of evidence against several white men who were prominent citizens of the county, but no prosecution was ever conducted and the murderers went to their graves without having paid for their crime....
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...
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 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 ).
From White Supremacy to White Power: The FBI, COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE, and the Nazification of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. " American Studies 48.3 (2007): 49-74. Jstor.com. Web. The Web.
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.
"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.
Hébert, Keith S. "EOA Links." Ku Klux Klan in Alabama. University of West Georgia, 22 Feb.
Various incarnations continued to appear since. The constant appearance of the Klan shows that the idea of white supremacy has not really gone away and racism continues to be a struggle in the United States. In fact, a greater number of KKK organizations exist today than at any other point in the group’s leading history. According to Southern Poverty Law Center, there are a total number of 130 KKK groups in 2016. Now, KKK groups have managed to target Jews, immigrants, and primarily African Americans. This is relevant in furthering the claim that describes the progression of the United States as a country full of opposing ideas. Although the government took action in order to lessen the violence due to racist ideas, these ideologies never really diminished and continues to exist to this day. In a newspaper article written by Harrison Jacobs, he talks about a certain book titled, “White Pride,” which are a series of photos that documented the different Klan organizations in fourteen states across the country. Photojournalist Anthony Karen spent many years gathering many photos of Ku Klux Klan members and how these people go about in their daily lives. The collection of photos prove that people still believe in the idea that one race should be considered as superior than
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.
Originated in 1865 by William Nathan Bedford,a former confederate general in the Civil War, the Klu Klux Klan wreaked havoc from 1866 to the later 1990’s , terrorizing many populations. The Ku Klux Klan’s main goal was to bring back the slavery of the blacks who had just been freed during the Civil War, and to keep the African American race from ever being free. Many black families suffered from the Ku Klux Klan’s hatred and were attacked by the Ku Klux Klan, who targeted those who were set free from slavery after the Civil War was over (racial problemsTrueman). They lived in constant fear of being captured, tutored and killed. In the day they lived with the sense of hatred all around them, and not a minute of their lives was lived without an urgency to look behind to see if someone was following. The nights were interrupted with the dreaded sounds of horses hooves and feet running around, setting fire to their homes. The abuse that these-innocent people struggled through was devastating and very wrong. After their at...
The Ku Klux Klan, was an extremist group that formed during the 1800’s. They used torture to gain power, especially in the South. They were a group of white men that shared the same political views and goals. They formed between December of 1865, and the Summer of 1866 in Pulaski Tennessee. Their original idea was to be a brotherhood, but that quickly changed. The Klan did not realize their potential at first, but they realized they could have as much power as they wanted if they worked for it, and thats what they did. They met in secret to plot their heart breaking attacks on African Americans, Republicans and many others. Finally, in the 1870’s laws were passed to limit their deadly actions. In 1869 they had earned notoriety and nationwide