The White Knights:

Ku Klux Klan

The KKK or The Ku Klux Klan is the name for the fraternal organisation in the US that have advocated white supremacy, anti-Semitism, racism, anti-Catholicism, homophobia and nativism. These organisations have used terrorism, violence and acts of intimidation such as cross burning to oppress mainly the African Americans and other groups.

The Klan’s first incarnation was created after the end of the American Civil War on December 24th 1865, founded by six veterans of the Confederate Army, to resist Reconstruction and it focused as much on intimidating “carpetbaggers” and “scalawags” as on putting down the freed slaves. The organisation was in decline from 1868 to 1870 and was destroyed in the early 1970s by President Ulysses S. Grant’s vigorous action under the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act).

A cartoon threatening that the KKK would lynch (hang) carpetbaggers, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Independent Monitor, 1868.

In 1915, William Joseph Simmons founded a second distinct group was founded using the same name. It was inspired by the newfound power of the modern mass media. The second KKK was a formal membership organisation with a national and state structure that paid thousands of men to organise local chapters all over the country. The second KKK typically preached racism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Communism, nativism, and anti Semitism. The Ku Klux Klan grew rapidly having more than two million members by the mid-1920's.  Departing from its secrecy, the Klan became a political force, assisting in the election of many public officials throughout the nation. Its popularity fell during the Great Depression and World War 2 because of scandals resulting from prominent members’ crimes and its support of the Nazis.

William Joseph Simmons founded the

second Ku Klux Klan in 1915.

The Ku Klux Klan first organised as a secret society in Pulaski, Tennessee around 1865.  Confederate General, Nathan Bedford Forrest, became the Klan's first Grand Wizard. The group adopted the name Ku Klux Klan from the Greek word kuklos, meaning circle, and the English word clan. The organisation did not recognise the civil and voting rights granted to freedmen following the Civil War. Klansmen in the South terrorized African Americans and their sympathizers with threats, beatings, or murder while wearing white robes and hoods to mask their identity. In 1871, Congress passed the Force Bill authorizing the President to use of federal troops against the Ku Klux Klan.  The organization all but disappeared soon after passage of the bill.

 

The Ku Klux Klan first organised as a secret society in Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1865.

William J. Simmons, a former Methodist preacher, organized a new Ku Klux Klan in Stone Mountain, Georgia in 1915 as a patriotic, Protestant fraternal society.  This new Klan directed its activity against, not just African Americans, but any group it considered un-American, including immigrants, Jews, and Roman Catholics.

The Second Incarnation of the KKK was formed in Stone Mountain, Georgia in 1915. As you can see, the location was very close to Pulaski, Tennessee, where the first KKK was created.

• 1866- The Ku Klux Klan is formed by former members of the Confederacy in Pulaski, Tennessee. Their main goal was to stop the recently freed slaves from being able to vote. Their major tactic was terror.

• 1871- Congress passes the KKK Act.  This act gave then president the right to intervene in the states and suspend the writ of habeas corpus.

• 1880's- The Klan fades away from a combination of action taken by the federal government and the lack of necessity because of the end of Reconstruction.  There is no need for a secret society when they can do the same things in public.

1871 – Congress passes the KKK Act.

• 1915 - William J. Simmons re-establishes the Ku Klux Klan.  They "new" Klan now targets Jews, Catholics, socialists, and communists.

• The controversial film "Birth of a Nation" is released.  This film depicts the KKK as saving the integrity of the United States. Some would link it to the resurgence in the Klan.

• 1922 - Hiram Evans becomes Imperial Wizard of the KKK. He expands the numbers of the Klan.

• 1925 - The enrollment numbers swell to 4 Million.

• 1930's - Due to corruption of the leadership, the Klan begins to decline once more.

• 1950's - The Klan resurfaces for a third and final time in opposition to Civil Rights in the south. They do not accomplish their goal

• 1964-Klan members are thought to have killed three Civil Rights Workers in Mississippi.

1922 – Klan numbers have increased to 4 million.

There are many reasons for the abuse of the African Americans by the Ku Klux Klan. Some people say that the KKK spread its hate across the United States, preached its beliefs to all Americans and urged everyone to join for the good of their country. Others say that because the African Americans were free people and had the same rights as the white people, the white people became angry and created groups to support their beliefs to allow people with the same ideas to gather together and share their ideas.

Another theory is that the purpose at the time was to provide the people of the south with the leadership to bring back the values of Western Civilisation that was taken from them.

The KKK may have been established because some white people were bored and so they formed a group but never knew how much their little “club” could impact American history to this day.

Cross burning was used by the Klan as a symbol of terror. Cross burning is said to have been introduced by William J Simmons, the

founder of the second Klan in 1915.

In my opinion, I think all the reasons (from the previous slide) are correct.

In the Southern States of USA, the period known as “Reconstitution” created a pressure and fear and hate for African Americans among many of the southern white people. The African Americans were free people and had the same rights as the white people, and this angered many white people, so they formed groups to support their beliefs and to allow people with the same ideas to gather and share their ideas. This is how the KKK came into existence.

Their purpose at the time, was to provide the people of the south with the power, to bring back the values of Western Civilisation that was taken from them.

The KKK spread its hate across the United States, preached its beliefs to all Americans and urged everyone to join for the good of their country.

Along the way, I think the people had some ideas to go against other groups, such as Semitists and Communists.

• One of the short outcomes on America was how the black people of America suffered greatly from the abuse afflicted on the African Americans by the Ku Klux Klan, only because of the colour of their skin. If your skin colour was anything other than white, you were classified as dirty, impure, ugly, and all the degrading names someone could find. Having colored skin subjected you to racism and hate crimes as portrayed by the Ku Klux Klan.

• The Ku Klux Klan promoted and continued the terrible problem of racism against Black Americans. As a consequence, a bad effect on America was inevitable.

• However, this racism of the African Americans is still continued in the United States today, many Black Americans are degraded and considered uneducated, because of what happened back in the early 1900s with the KKK.

Today’s Ku Klux Klan is still focusing on white supremacy, and has evolved with the rest of the world. It has particular focus on practical American political issues such as taxes, social compensation, constitutional rights and foreign affairs. They believe the American army should not be “wasting their time” fighting foreign conflicts. They feel that the “best army in the world” should defend its own country alone. The KKK would rather see the American troops on the South American border to stop the entry of “illegal aliens,” which are illegal immigrants, but all non-white immigrants are also targeted.

The Klan’s most important goal is to give the white race the right to be proud of itself. The KKK builds their race by destroying other races. However, Americans are in fact a mixture of various races, so it is therefore preposterous to think that there will be no interracial reproduction in North America.

The Klan will continue their journey of hate into the next millennium, being known as the Ku Klux Klan or the Invisible Empire. This racist organisation shall feed on the racism, prejudice and discrimination that may change shape and size, but that will remain with humanity forever.

Racism against non-white people is carried out all over the world today, and are still being degraded and many white supremacists (not only in America) blame immigrants, particularly Hispanics, for crime, struggling schools or unemployment, for instance. Some immigrants were portrayed as “Catholic usurpers” invading the country, taking jobs from native-born citizens and undermining national fabric.

The bias and assumption and racism of non-whites is alive and well around the world.

In the world today, there are still many white people who think they are superior than non-whites and this is causing conflict and all sorts of problems in all areas of the world.

Ku Klux Klan members march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC 1928 with the Capitol in the

background.

Ku Klux Klan members Nazi salute pledge of allegiance…to God? The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan claim that the Bible is on their side. They claim that the Bible condones their activity. But nowhere in the Bible is killing thy neighbor encouraged.

• The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is one of America's oldest and most feared groups. Driven by the dream of a world with only one master race, the KKK often uses violence and moves above the law to promote their cause. No matter where the Klan is headed, violence is sure to be the destination. They didn't start off violent, or to promote white supremacy. They have been in the shadows for over 130 years and continue to thrive in America's society today. They have become a symbol of crime & lawlessness.

The KKK is a problem that won't go away for long. As we have seen, the KKK will be active for a period and then disappear. As long as there is differences between people in this world, there will always be hate. And the Ku Klux Klan will be there to feed on this hate and exploit it in every way possible. They may be silent for many years, but you can count on the fact that they are there. They are "The Invisible Empire" and will always be the dark side to American History.