The KKK and Real Estate Essay

Topic: In 1866, the Ku Klux Klan was founded by many former confederate veterans in retaliation to their current Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies aimed at establishing political and economic equality for blacks. The Reconstruction era sparked by President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation clearly defined that the days of white superiority were in dissolution. Through a willful ignorance and an insecurity of what might postlude the civil rights movement, the KKK rose, using terror in pursuit of their white supremacist agenda. Nathan Bedford Forrest, a former Lieutenant general in the Civil war, became the KKK's first Grand Wizard. Now with a steady leader the klan became a persistent political party aimed at dismantling the increasingly

Motivated by nationalism, The Birth of a Nation, and Mary Phagan’s murder, the Klan was officially reformed by William Joseph Simmons in 1915. Radical patriotism, “public fears, and intolerance” fueled the group’s revival, and it steadily gained members until the late 1920’s (Benson, Brannen, and Valentine, “Ku Klux Klan”). A nostalgia for the old Southern ways also pushed people to reform the Klan. Sentiments felt by the group were common enough that a large amount of people could relate and join, bringing in more money and often more press. The Klan gained a lot of media coverage as it began to protest, which brought more national attention to the group.

Intimidation Tactics of the Ku Klux KlanTopic: Intimidation tactics of the Ku Klux KlanQuestion: What tactics would the Ku Klux Klan use to intimidate African Americans in the US?Thesis: The KKK would impose fear in African Americans by using violent and symbolic methods to intimidate them.Since the start of the Ku Klux Klan in 1865, members have used violent means to intimidate African Americans and other groups of ethically “unclean” people. The KKK would impose fear in African Americans by using violent and symbolic methods to intimidate them. Although these tactics worked for sometime, it ultimately led to their downfall.Immediately after the 13th Amendment was passed, which officially ended slavery in the U.S., many Civil War veterans, who had fought for the Confederate side, despised the idea of blacks living among them equally. This led to them to create the Klan, as a way to control the black population in the South. One way they did this was by carrying out attacks in order to intimidate them. These attacks were usually carried out in rural areas, during nighttime, which led to the members being nicknamed “nightriders.” The Klan would travel to the victim’s house, knock down their doors, whip them, and aim loaded guns at them.1 During these encounters, many women were even sexually abused or raped. Other methods used were hateful, racist rhetoric being shouted at blacks, along with ceremonial cross burnings and public lynchings to remind people of the KKK’s strong

In chapter 2 of Freakonomics the main argument is that the absence of information can be used for personal gain. The main example used to display this tactic is when the KKK is compared to real estate agents. Although the crafty practice of real estate agents is in no way similar to the horrors of the KKK, they have a distinct similarity when it comes to the hoarding of information. The majority of the chapter focuses on the history of the KKK and Stetson Kennedy’s effort to stop it through the infiltration and exposure via radio of the Klan. Since the Klan was dependant on their violent—despite not being extremely violent—reputation, the disclosure of the information they had withheld from the public rendered them powerless. The narrators

In Chapter 2, the authors discuss the economic term known as "information asymmetry." As the book explains, the term information asymmetry refers to when a person uses his information advantage to gain power to the detriment of others. The discussion of information asymmetry begins with a brief history of the Ku Klux Klan. According to the authors, much of the Klan's power in the 1940s lies in the fact that it maintains so much secrecy in everything it does. After World War II, a man named Stetson Kennedy leads to the Klan's ultimate downfall by exposing many of its secrets. Kennedy infiltrates the Klan by becoming a member of a Klan group in Atlanta, where he learns all of the group's secret rituals, names and handshakes, as well as its hierarchy.

During the Reconstruction Era, Congress passed many laws to provide equal rights to people of color. But at the local level, specifically in the South, many Democrats took the law into their own hands. They supported the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) hoping to restore the pre-Civil War social hierarchy. The texts in Going to the Source illustrate two groups of individuals who opposed the KKK. In testimonies given by white witnesses, Republicans from the North felt the KKK posed a political and social danger in the South, but did not feel intimidated. The testimonies given by black witnesses were people who had experience of the Klan’s violence, and felt their lives were threatened. The Klan’s attacks on whites were more inclined towards social harassment, while their attacks on blacks, which consisted of voting intimidation and night rides, were violent and abusive because the KKK’s main goal was white supremacy.

During the 1920’s rebirth of the KKK, the Klan would turn to politics to help push their beliefs. Hundreds of Klansmen would go onto win elections to local offices and state legislatures, which at the height of their power would account for more than three million members (Henretta, pg. 670). Having members of the Klan elected to local offices and state legislatures, allowed for the Klan to become very influential. Eventually becoming so influential, the clan had people feeling as if they were compelled to support or join them. Along with becoming influential, having Klansmen in local offices and state legislatures allowed for the Klan become dispersed across the country. Unlike the original Klan, the reborn Klan well geographically

To understand the Klan, then, it is necessary to understand the character and present mind of the mass of old-stock Americans. The mass, it must be remembered, as distinguished from the intellectually mongrelized "Liberals.'

Through research and evidence, it is clear that the historical interpretations of the origins of Klan and its establishment as an organization and its origins have changed over time. Starting in 1906, historians argued that the Klan was a benevolent, social organization, working as law-enforcers to help maintain a distinct social order between Southern whites and newly freed slaves. Completely ignoring the violence produced by the Klan, historians depicted the Klan as a positive, well-rounded organization. The second historical interpretation shone a new light on the Klan, exposing it for its violent and racially motivated actions. Historians argued that the Klan’s establishment was as a political organization that made a negative and lasting impression on all of U.S. history. The third and final interpretation argues that the Klan was established as a result of a struggling planter class. Historical interpretations during this time period describe the main goal of the Klan as wanting to answer to the desires and goals of the planters’ class. Because of this, historians during this era never saw the Klan as being an obstacle for newly freed slaves nor did they see the Klan having a negative effect on society. In conclusion, it is evident that historical interpretations develop and

Forever. 170). The Klan were white southerners who were organized and committed to the breaking down of Reconstruction. By methods of brutality, “the Klan during Reconstruction offers the most extensive example of homegrown terrorism in American history” (Foner. Forever. 171). The Ku Klux Klan as well as other groups killed or tormented black politicians or threatened the blacks who voted in elections. The Klan strongly disagreed with the northern idea that slaves should become part of the government. The Historian Kenneth M. Stampp states, “for their [the North] supreme offense was not corruption but attempting to organize the Negroes for political action” (Stampp. Era. 159). This corresponds with Foner’s idea that the South was not open to the idea of change but more so consumed with the idea of recreating a society similar to one of the past. However, the goal of white power groups was not just politics. The Klan wanted to restore the hierarchy once controlling the South. Foner observes that, “the organization took on the function of the antebellum slave patrols: making sure that blacks did not violate the rules and etiquette of white supremacy” (Foner. Forever. 172). Like the power the southern whites formerly held over the slave population, the Ku Klux Klan wanted to control the African American population still living in the South. They did not want the freedmen to become integrated into their society because they saw them as lesser people. By suppressing and

The goal of this investigation is to delve into the question of: to what extent was the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan during the 1920s a reflection of societal change? In order to assess this question from multiple perspectives on the topic, research is needed to further look into the Klan’s motives both prior to their revival as well as after. Events in the 1870s, when the Klan ended, as well as events in the 1920s, when the klan was reborn, will be considered in this investigation in order to make connections between the KKK and why their revival in the 1920s reflected societal change. Among these events include the end of Reconstruction, the Progressive Era, increase of immigration to the United States, as well as the “red scare” of communism.

Shawn Lay, from “ The Second Invisible Empire and Toward a New Historical Appraisal of the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s”, rejects the view of the KKK as a radical fringe group comprised of marginal men and instead characterizes the KKK of the 1920s as a

The Klan included mayors, judges, sheriffs, and often common criminals. They murdered black politicians and political leaders. The men beat and murdered thousands of people. And they intimidated tens of thousands of others (The Rise and Fall of Jim crow; Jim Crow stories). The KKK vowed to defend their own white-Protestant culture against any group that seemed to be un-American. The Klansman’s Manual stated “Klansmen are to be examples of patriotism. They are to organize the patriotic sentiment of native-born white, Protestant Americans for the defense of distinctively American institutions. Klansmen are dedicated to the principle that America shall be made American through promulgation of American doctrines, the dissemination of American ideals, the creation of wholesome American sentiment, the preservation of American institutions.”. As the Klan grew power, many Southern politicians relied on their power (BBC – Higher Bitesize History).

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

In summary, the book talks vividly about the rise and reasoning of the Ku Klux Klan in 1915 and a brief background about the founder, William Joseph Simmons. It also focused on members of the Ku Klux Klan in Clarke County, Georgia. This revival of the original KKK, that formed after the Civil War, now hated everyone that wasn’t one of them, a WASP or White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. A majority of their hatred was directed to