Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan, or "KKK" as we all know today, was created in the spring of 1866. Six Confederate veterans who formed a social club in Pulaski, Tennessee founded it. This version of the "KKK" only lasted for six years, but it left enough tactics and rituals to last a lifetime. These rituals and tactics would be used in following generations of "KKK"-goers. (Ingalls, 9) The Klan, at first, was a very small group and kept everything in secrecy. The exact date the Klan began is ambiguous. Even though the Klan was in to this secrecy bit, the six "KKK" members initiated new members into their social club. (Ingalls, 9) A year after the creation of the Ku Klux Klan, the onetime social club joined the campaign against the Republican reconstruction. The Klan was now planning and organizing their platform and was ready to expand to a larger group.
The Klan adopted a prescript. This was an organizational structure permitting the Klan to spread throughout the south. New members had to be over 18 years of age, pay $1.00, and then are sworn to secrecy. Recruits also pledged to "protect the weak, the innocent, and the defenseless, from the indignities, wrongs, and outrages of the lawless, the violent, and the brutal." The highly centralized plan for expanding the "KKK" spread so rapidly that most chapters operated alone. The founders of the Ku Klux Klan lost control, and it became impossible in meetings to talk about a single chapter or operation of the "KKK". Yet Klan activities still followed a common pattern throughout the south. (Ingalls 11-12) The Klan now began their "infestation" into Tennessee. At first the Klan used tricks and tactics to keep blacks "in their place". Klan would ride around on horses, with their ...
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... up for blacks, and this concern led to new Klan activity which is still in effect today. Today in the Klan there are approximately 10,000 Klan members. (World Book Encyclopedia J-K, 310)
In conclusion, the Klan has formed and diminished many times in the past. If the Klan keeps up their antics, there will always be opponents there to try and stop the Klan. It is a real shame that a social group only made for the purpose to scare freed slaves turned into such a horrible group that will always continue to haunt America. It seems that the Klan will never give up on trying to regain their power. The U.S. must do something about this in our country today. We need to all learn when a simple taunt has gone too far. People have to realize that everyone is equal and it will be that way forever. Nobody can take that away from us. We are Americans and we are all born free.
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.
During WWI, the United States military armed African-American soldiers and sent them to fight on the front lines. Returning home at the end of the war, many white veterans resented the arming of these African-American soldiers. Conversely, the returning African-American soldiers greatly resented being sent home and back to a life as a second class citizen. Perhaps as an effort to seek some kind of revenge on the black soldiers, or possibly as an attempt to quell the slowly growing equality of African-Americans, the Klu Klux Klan experienced a drastic upswing in membership during the 1920s. Originally founded in 1865 the Klu Klux Klan experienced an upswing in membership during the 1920s after the war. The Klan opened its first base in Oregon after its revival in central California. Historians note that one reason why many influential white Americans may have supported the Klan was because the Klan was in favor of prohibition, the ...
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.
...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.
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 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 .
surrounded by their own kind. The KKK states “Our purpose is to unite, organize, and educate
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 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.
This small group started as a harmless fun loving group, 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. Klan supporters saw the group as a protector of a certain way of life and the white race. The original Klan shut down in 1872.
The Ku Klux Klan was founded in May of 1866, in Pulaski, Tennessee by six veterans of the Confederate Army. The early years of the Klan's existence were focused mainly on restoring white power in the government. The Klan often spoke against Radical Republicans, the political party that most supported the rights of former slaves. At first the Klan seemed relatively harmless. But as time went on, the so called white supremacists showed how far they were willing to go to fulfill their craving for America to go back to its former ways.
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...
In 1869 the Klan was disbanded by Forrest, this was the height of their membership with 500,00 members, because laws were created in the 1870’s to slow down their activities, such as the KKK Act and the Enforcement Acts, limiting their power in the south. Even though they were no longer active their threat was still lingering. They left a legacy in the United States of torture, havoc, white supremacy and black oppression that lasted for a century. The KKK were successful at achieving their goals of abolishing the Republicans ideas in the South and scaring many African Americans during the late