Racism in the United States Near the end of the 1920`s, the KKK membership excelled over 4 million people nationwide. The history of the Ku Klux Klan has a dark past and most recently a dark future. By the twentieth century, racism had taken a curve in history. Over the recent years, racism has affected most of the people in the country. The KKK had an enormous effect on the U.S. by showing how blind we once were and how divided we still are. The Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1866 and was in most of the southern states by 1870. The KKK became the most powerful white resistance in U.S. history. In the summer of 1867, local branches of the Klan met in a general organizing convention and established what they called an, “Invisible Empire of the …show more content…
While the Great Depression was occurring in the 1930`s, it helped deplete some of the Klan`s membership ranks, but was temporarily disbanded in 1944. During the Civil Rights movement in the 1960`s, a great surge of KKK activities progressed including shootings and bombings of Black and White churches and schools inside the southern states. Most of these activities were carried out secretly by the Major Klansmen, by this; it enraged the nation and progressed into forming the Civil Rights Cause. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson carried out a speech publicly condemning the Klan and the arrest of the Klansmen that were executing these activities. From the 1990`s to today, the Klan has an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 members, mostly in the deep southern states. In most recent times, there have been over 1,110 deaths because of racist Law Enforcement or Police brutality, most of the Klan does not interfere with the actions of recent years. Statistics say that blacks are twice more likely to get killed today than as 50 years ago. The last major shooting was in Ferguson which involved an unarmed 18-year-old boy named Michael Brown being shot down by Police Officer of Missouri. In 2015, 1,093 deaths was caused by most Law Enforcements around the
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.
In conclusion, the Ku Klux Klan played a large role in the history, culture, and racial identity in the United States. Because of the Ku Klux Klan, many people were put into more segregation. Many of these racial problems that are still in movement today are because of the Ku Klux Klan and the influence they had in the 1920s. Many of these believes still carry on through different generations of families. Since the fall of the Ku Klux Klan in popularity, many racial problems have been solved between different
The KKK made their beliefs clear, and imprinted the memories of them by committing acts of hatred on those whom they opposed. Even though the KKK had reemerged in the South in 1915, it wasn’t until after World War I came to a close that the organization gained a national resurgence (Getchell). This version of the Klan was known as “The Second Ku Klux Klan.” The resurgent Klan of the 1920s was a short-lived but potent phenomenon. The second KKK was a mass movement that invoked the memory of and built upon the first KKK, which was a terrorist organization founded by white supremacists in the U.S. South (“The Ku Klux Klan In Washington State, 1920s”) The majority of klan members confined their opposition tactics to parading and burning crosses,
The largest threat to African Americans with after the Civil War and Reconstruction was the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK was founded in 1866, and extended into almost every southern state by 1870. The organization became a vehicle for white southern citizens to deny Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies whose ideas, that tried establishing political and economic equality for African Americans. The KKK flourished in some regions in the South where, African Americans were a minority of the population. The KKK also targeted any individual or organization that would support minatory groups. Even at its height, the KKK was not a well-organized organization or had a clear leader. The organization’s members where all types of people ranging
Perhaps the most famous terrorist organization in the history of America, the Ku Klux Klan, better known as the “KKK”, was originated in 1866 by a group of six confederate veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee. Although the Klan “had no malicious intentions” according to (Eyewitness to History). As we all know, that fact quickly changed. Throughout the next few years, this group spread to all southern states. It is followers included mayors, judges, police officers, and even convicted felons. This group of people began killing black people, black politicians, and white people who sided with the blacks. They were famous for burning large crosses in the homes and neighborhoods of blacks, and setting fire to churches in which they knew a large amount of blacks attended their masses each
The Ku Klux Klan, an anti-radical and anti-immigrant organization, was founded in 1866 by ex-Confederate soldiers of the civil war. At that time the Republic party was working on creating political equality for the blacks. Since the organization was against the policies of the Republic Party, the Klan dissolved during the years of Reconstruction, but it became prominent again in the 1920s. From there on the Klan did not only target blacks, but they also widen their denouncement towards Catholics, Jews and foreigners. The Klan supported “fundamentalism and devout patriotism” along with advocating white supremacy (American Experience). They violently attacked black activists, the church, and schools in order to embraced a return to "clean living".
The Ku Klux Klan initially started as a, “loosely organized group of political and social terrorists” (NGE) they started out by going after Republican leaders who opposed their belief of an all-white nation. The group started in Tennessee in 1866, and was formed by former Confederate soldiers. In 1868 it became evident that the group was terrorizing the freed slaves, “It is clear that attacks on blacks became common during 1868. Freedmen's Bureau agents reported 336 cases of murder or assault with intent to kill on freedmen across the state from January 1 through November 15 of 1868.” (NGE) The Ku Klux Klan was not happy the state passed the Fifteenth Amendment which let the freedmen vote, so it was not long until the clan made a stand against that. During the 1868 elections the (KKK) surrounded the poll buildings forcing the state to send federal soldiers to guard the polls. The (KKK) also tried to control the freedmen’s social lives, “Klanlike violence was also used to control freedpeople's social behavior, but with less success. Black churches and schools were burned, teachers were attacked, and freedpeople who refused to show proper deference were beaten and
The original Ku Klux Klan had deceased during the 1870s as post Civil War Reconstruction was drawing to a close. The organization had been largely responsible saving the South from corrupt outside influences. From 1869-1871 its objective was to destroy reconstruction by murdering the blacks and some whites who were either in Republican politics or educating black children. The Klan started to slowly fade away in 1871 after President Ulysses signed legislation making the Klan illegal. Moreover, Klan membership remained throughout South but the organization as a whole faded out.
Although the group was founded in 1915, it wasn't very popular until the 1920s. The KKK hit its peak in the mid 20s with an estimated 4 million to 5 million members nationally. Most of the members were white middle class men. The Klan didn't just have a presence in the south it also had a strong presents in some northern states like Oregon, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. With popularity of the Klan spreading through the U.S. the Klan was experienced an increase in political power. They were able to get klansmen in all levels of the government, even the senate.
The Ku Klux Klan was formed in 1866. This group was responsible for a large percent of the 4,743 lynching’s that occurred from 1866 to 1968. During the civil rights movement, the KKK started to reform to intimidate civil rights workers, which encouraged Congress to pass the first hate-crime law. The law was passed in 1968 and stated that, “Anyone interfering with another person who is exercising a federal right ... if that interference is motivated by the other person’s ‘race, color, religion or national origin’” they will be punished under state laws (Update: Hate Crime Laws). Since then Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Kennedy and dozens more of policy makers have made steps to create harsher hate-crime laws. Today, laws in some states, like Florida, are getting stricter to make more of an impact. Florida’s new house-of-worship protection act, for example, “Makes vandalizing a church a third degree felony
From 1860- to the early 1870s they were full of political and social terrorist. Although most of their actions were to intimidate black voters and white supporters of the Republican Party, the violence increased through 1868 from the whipping of black women and the murders of Republican leaders. The attacks on black were very often during this year the Freedmen’s Bureau reported 336 murder cases or attempted murder cases from January to November. Some blacks fought back against the Klan do to their new-found freedom and emancipation. The first Ku Klux Klan ended in 1872 after democratic success and victories and elections. Although the first Ku Klux Klan was fading away, there were still local groups with the same motives and goals as the Ku Klux Klan, they just weren’t a big successful organization. There were plenty of men that stated they had ridden with the original Ku Klux Klan and how they stopped Negro Domination from Georgia and the South.
The first Klan began in 1866. The first leader was Nathan Bedford Forrest, a confederate general. The first Klan was also called ¨the invisible empire¨. It was founded in Pulaski, Tennessee. Within a year, the group had taken on aspects of a terrorist group opposed to the Reconstruction Republican Governor William Brownlow and its federal laws designed to give newly freed slaves equal rights. The post-civil war Klan was a response to freeing slaves and the effect that the Union wanted to do to reconstruct the southern society. This included, ending discrimination against former slaves and state governments imposed by the military in the south states. There were places that the Klan had trouble operating while other
The Ku Klux Klan originated in the South and spread across the nation; during the early twentieth century, the KKK had approximately four million members throughout the country. Their members occupied many political influences in some states such as Oregon, Indiana, and Colorado. In the summer of 1868, Klan achieved part of their goal which was to defeat Southern Blacks; but didn’t succeed that well in carrying out their social aim during the reconstruction era, however; they later spread throughout Georgia. Then again, a Georgia Republican organizer was killed on March 31st, 1868; and because of his death, KKK organized terrorist crime became noticeable; to the extent that their violent actions spread across Georgia’s Black Belt, and the state
The Klan began in 1866, in Pulaski, Tennessee. Just after the Civil War ended former confederate soldiers put together a secret social fraternity type group, which quickly expanded in to “a paramilitary force bent on reversing the federal government’s progressive Reconstruction Era-activities in the South. (history.com staff) Whites were nervous and fearful that the former slaves would vote “in self-serving “carpet baggers” into political offices”. (history.com staff) Whites quickly commenced to taking anger out on the blacks and black supporters of their towns. Once they began their view of violence there could be no end .After the Klan’s fast expansion they decided to get all of the groups together in April of 1867 to decide rules and leadership. Masked by their perception of white superiority they executed acts of violence and racial terrorism. These acts lead to the unfortunate deaths of many innocents, it was completely wrong and unnecessary for there to be this much hate and violence at this time. The Klan 's first Grand Wizard was General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Nathan tried to disband
Funding Sources (other crimes?): The Klan today is split up into separate groups so difficult to get a good idea where the main source of funding is. The Klan most likely receive donations online from Stormfront.