The Ku Klux Klan's long history of violence grew out of the anger and hatred many white Southerners felt after the Civil War. Blacks, having won the struggle for freedom from slavery, were now faced with a new struggle against widespread racism and the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan. Despite what many might like to think, the KKK is still active today.
The bare facts about the birth of the Ku Klux Klan and its revival half a century later are baffling to most people today. Little more than a year after it was founded, the secret society moved across the South, bringing a reign of violence that lasted three or four years. Then, as rapidly as it had spread, the Klan faded away. After World War I a new version of the Klan surfaced. Then, having grown to be a major force for the second time, the Klan again receded into the background. This time it never quite disappeared, but it never again gathered such widespread support.
A more obvious explanation of the South's acceptance of the KKK is found in slavery. Freedom for slaves represented for many white Southerners a sour defeat. It is speculated that it was a defeat not only of their armies, but of their economic and social way of life. It was an incredible widespread culture-shock for the South when the slaves were freed. Every way of life was affected for them.
The beginning idea for the KKK came from a number of slave revolts in Virginia and other parts of the South that led to night patrols. These night patrols were white men out on the roads for the specific purpose of enforcing the curfew for slaves, looking for runaways, and guarding rural areas against black uprisings. They were given permission by law to give a specific number of lashes to anyone who broke these rule...
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... new Klan leader began to dream up a society that was anti-black, anti-union, anti-Jew, anti-Catholic and anti-Communist. This man was Samuel Green, a doctor from Atlanta. Green reorganized the Klan in California, Kentucky, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida and Alabama. The press in the South had become less tolerant of the Klan’s antics, ministers were more and more inclined to attack the Klan, and State and local governments passed laws against cross burnings and masks.
By the time of Green's death in 1949, the Klan was broken up by internal disputes and flooded by investigations from all sides in response to a wave of Klan violence in the South. Many members of the Klan went to jail for floggings or other criminal acts. By the early 1950's, membership in the empire was at its lowest level since its rebirth in 1915.
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...
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.
First off there was the Ku Klux Klan better known as the KKK. This was a group of people who wore robes and masks. They pretended to be the ghosts of confederate soldiers. These people were scared of changes and the rising rights of African Americans. This was also in the north not just the south. Poverty was a big thing after reconstruction. It was a problem before reconstruction but it got bigger after. Poverty was a global issue in the south where a lot of white southerners had lost their land. This caused them to be trapped in a little poverty cycle. African Americans had little job
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 .
"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.
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.
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...
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