Ku Klux Klan Essay

The Ku Klux Klan, known as the KKK, has been one of the most feared groups in America since the end of the civil war during post-war reconstruction.. The civil war was not just about the rights of the black man, but it was a very important part. People in the north mostly believed the black person was due the same liberties insured by the U.S. Constitution. The 14th Amendment of the constitution gave equal protection to former slaves. However people in the south saw the black man as inferior and a slave needed to work on the plantation. This led to continued unrest after the war. Some felt the black man and those that supported his cause needed to be stopped. They wanted to control the black population. The Klan also would torture white people who were sympathetic to the blacks and their situation.

By forcing the African Americans into many submissions and making them move, they became more united throughout the country. This connected the African Americans, driving them together. They wanted to help each other get through the Ku Klux Klan together. Since the Ku Klux Klan pressured African Americans, this only made them want more change and desegregation. But the Klan also boosted racial identity for whites. They were rallying white people together and boosting their ethnic ideas to other whites, and this idea was very popular at the time being. This created a large gap between whites and blacks during the 1920s. This divide only enforced different cultural beliefs, such that blacks had their own music and so did whites. Creating a divide in culture drove the Ku Klux Klan and gave them power. The Ku Klux Klan emphasized the difference between whites and blacks, associating blacks with crime and poverty and praising whites for being upstanding, wealthier citizens. Since in cities many of these beliefs were true, people began to further these racial identities. Because of the Ku Klux Klan, people began to believe these racial accusations against the blacks (Rothman).

The Ku Klux Klan flourished in the South at the beginning of the Reconstruction succeeding the Civil War. There remained numerous ex-Confederates that were still strongly opposed to the Reconstruction and sought to preserve white supremacy in the South. Directly after the Civil War the government in the South was weak and vulnerable. The Ku Klux Klan leveraged this and used violence and threats to try to reestablish white supremacy. They were most successful in playing upon fears and superstitions. They not only brought terror to the black communities but they also targeted carpetbaggers and scalawags. They used these threats and fears in effectively keeping the blacks away from the polls so that the ex-Confederates could gain back political control in the

The first era Ku Klux Klan was formed in Tennessee on December 1865 at the end of the civil war. The Ku Klux Klan was formed as a movement for white supremacy. It was formed as a violent group that relied on fear tactics to stay in power. As Jonathan M. Bryant said in an article “The Klan 's organized terrorism began most notably on March 31, 1868, when Republican organizer George Ashburn was murdered in Columbus, Georgia.” George W. Ashburn (1814 - March 30, 1868) was a Georgia politician assassinated by the Ku Klux Klan in Columbus, Georgia for his pro-African-American sentiments. He was the first murder victim of the Klan in Georgia. This the first of the Klan’s organized terrorism it was soon followed by more.

The Ku Klux Klan was a secret terrorist organization that was created by six well educated Confederate veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee in the December of 1865. Their main objective was to restore white supremacy through acts of violence such as murder, against both Black and White Republicans. The KKK had eventually spread to every southern state, and Klansmen would often terrorize republicans regardless of their race. Members of the KKK believed that African Americans were inferior to Whites and did not believe that Blacks deserved equal rights. Although the rebel groups were outlawed and made illegal, many of them remained in existence and appeared after the reconstruction had ended. This proved the Reconstruction to be ineffective as many Southerners were still fighting against the government and opposed them. In addition, African Americans were still deprived of their rights by these

This turn to violence was how the first Ku Klux Klan rose. The Klan was formed by six ex-Confederate Veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee, this organization started off small but began absorbing most of the other anti-Reconstruction groups in the south, like the Men of Justice, the Pale Faces, the Constitutional Union Guards, the White Brotherhood, and the Order of the White Rose (Infoplease.com). The Ku Klux Klan was created in fear of an insurrection by the ex-slaves, now the freedmen. The most recognized founder of the Klan was Nathan Bedford Forrest. Their white robes and masks are supposed to be a representation of ex-Confederate soldiers who died during the civil war. One of the Klan’s biggest goal was keeping the freedmen away from the voting polls to assure the success of ex-Confederates in gaining back their political control in many states. In 1871, President Grant took an aim at the Klan for their interference in black suffrage but by this time the support for Reconstruction was beginning to diminish because racism was still very much alive in both the north and the south. As time progressed the Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives. The democrats waged a campaign of violence to take control of Mississippi to which President Grant responded with a refusal of federal troop intervention which ended support of the Reconstruction era. In the election of 1876, Republican, Rutherford B. Haynes, reached a compromise with

The Klu Klux Klan was formed in 1866 by a group of Confederate soldiers in Pulaski, Tennessee. It was a social club or fraternity for the veterans but later had different views and became a terrorist group (PBS). The name of the group came from the Greek word “kyklos” meaning circle and then they added Klan to make the name flow (History.com Staff). It did not start with the thought of malicious activity. They would have secret meetings and elaborate ceremonies to discuss how they could stop reconstruction after the civil war. The members would wear white sheets that covered their whole body and pointy white caps to make them appear taller. This was an all white group and ended up being one of the deadliest terrorist groups (EyeWitness to History). General Nathan Bedford Forrest was the Klu Klux Klan’s first “grand wizard,” also known as

The group known as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was first founded in 1866. The KKK was organized by white supremacist to go against the Republicans Reconstruction-era policies. The members of the group formed in the southern states. They met secretly and formed a campaign to intimidate and use violent acts of discrimination towards both white and black Republican leaders. The Ku Klux Klan had laws passed against them, to stop there acts of injustice, which was considered terrorism. The Ku Klux Klan was a group that formed three times, and had different phases. The reformatted in the early 20th century, and came back stronger than the were before. They held rallies, burned homes and people, burnt crosses, and held marches against immigrants and other religions. Another phase was after the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s the activity was very violent

The Klan started in the year 1866, as a social club. The first Klan was founded in Tennessee and soon began to expand throughout the southern states. In 1868 the Klan quickly became one of the most feared terrorist groups. The first leader of the clan was Nathan Bedford Forrest who was a past general in the confederate army. Soon the clan evolved into almost every state in 1870. The second Klan began in 1915, and ended in 1944. The third clan started in 1946 and is still active today. (PBS)

The klan used violence and threats to try and restore white supremacy. Their main targets were freed men and their allies, sometimes by sending threatening messages, beating them, or murdering them. The klans violence was out of control. They were torturing, whipping, hanging, and killing blacks every day. They would also set houses on fire and sometimes set captured blacks on fire too.

Intricate initiation services were carried out for new members and the practice of wearing white robes and hoods set the members apart from other members and provided them a special individuality. Cross burning was also a common shared exercise among the members of the Klan. The service was primarily used to intimidate against the people who hated by the Klan. The actions of the early KKK were proposed simply as a source of entertainment. Nightly activities consisted of posing as ghosts of Confederate dead to torment and frighten black freedmen. The KKK members pulled pranks on the blacks, though without any sinister inspiration. Post-Civil War reconstruction of the South transformed this lively boldness. The objective of the KKK was to help the White Anglo-Saxon Christian people flourish and be larger to all other races. They believed in helping one another in order to keep their people strong as a united race. With 1 being moral or spiritual intents and 10 being sensible, the KKK scored a 1, because it believed that white Christians were morally and spiritually

Southern americans showed extreme contempt for African Americans even after the end of the civil war. They believed that blacks were uncivilized and unworthy of american citizenship and voting rights. This distain for blacks became a learned behavior and continued into the 20th century. Beginning as early as 1865 a group of called the Ku Klux Klan sought out african americans and killed and tortured them in horrible ways. By 1870, the Ku Klux Klan had branches in nearly every southern state, the groups main object being an underground campaign of violence against Republican leaders and voters in an effort to change the laws of Radical Reconstruction and restore white supremacy in the South.(J.M. Bryant "Ku Klux Klan in the Reconstruction Era.") The KKK’s tactics of political terrorism were effective and set fear in the hearts of many. Black churches and schools were burned, citizens attacked, and people who refused proper submission were beaten and killed. This was a terrible time in American history and truly shows southern whites contempt for emancipation of their slaves, and the extremes circumstances whites would go to express that animosity.

Frustrated confederate soldiers made their way back home after losing the war that they had been fighting for four years. These men formed vigilante groups, attacking black people. While soldiers did this, wealthier men who had avoided fighting in the war formed agricultural and police clubs for the same purpose; both groups soon took shape and evolved into one large group, known as the Ku Klux Klan and Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest became the first leader, known as the Grand Wizard. The name Ku Klux Klan is derived from the Greek word, Kyklos, meaning circle. The Ku Klux Klan, often shortened to the KKK, was founded in Tennessee in 1866 and grew to be one of the most feared terrorist groups in the United States, before dying off in 1869, but later being revived in 1915 (History.com Staff). The Ku Klux Klan negatively impacted the Reconstruction period through terror, intimidating Republican voters, and killing Republican officials.

Eight months after the Civil War, in the south the government was weak and there were no jobs available. On Christmas Eve of 1866, six confederate veterans started a social hate group in Pulaski, Tennessee. The six confederate veterans were John Lester, James Crowe, John Kennedy, Calvin Jones, Richard Reed, and Frank McCord. The group started off as just wanting to have fun and keep themselves entertained. The six founders were well educated and came from wealthy families. From their Greek knowledge, they use the word kyklos meaning circle and then added the word Klan. The Ku Klux Klan was then born. Nathan Bedford Forrest was the first leader of the Klan. He was known as the “Grand Wizard.”

The Ku Klux Klan is a gang with a notorious past. The clan started off as a group of people defying the southern state’s laws, but it turned out to be one of the most terrifying gangs of the nineteenth century. It all started during the election of Ulysses S. Grant, when most of the democrats in the south created groups to terrify the African Americans. It was a violent gesture to any of the minorities who wanted to gain political attention. They banded together in Pulaski, Tennessee in 1865, consisting of former confederate soldiers. They soon began to weaken the blacks and republican political power. It fueled hatred and riots throughout Tennessee, as members of law enforcement often joined in with the gang. All whites from the southern states joined the Klan as an attempt to intimidate the blacks (Herb Peek 2013). As an effort to intimidate the newly freed blacks they burned school houses and whipped teachers. The KKK wanted to get rid of the republican leverage in the southern states. They murdered and terrorized party leaders and all those who voted (Herb Peek 2013). It created an atmosphere that helped gain new recruitment for the Ku Klux Klan. What made this particular group such a threat? What is the history behind this group? Do they still intimidate the south?