How Did The Ku Klux Klan Formed

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Such an organization is the Ku Klux Klan, better known as the KKK. The Ku Klux Klan is one of the most hateful groups that still exists today. They are not as strong as they once were, but still pose a threat. I believe that the KKK should have never been formed because of the pain and increased racial tension that it has caused in our society today. The origin of the Ku Klux Klan was a carefully guarded secret for years, although there were many theories to explain its beginnings. One popular belief held that the Ku Klux Klan was originally a secret order of Chinese opium smugglers. Another claimed that it began by Confederate prisoners during the war. No matter what people thought it was, its formation is still the blame for the deaths…show more content…
Northerners saw the Klan as an attempt to win through terrorism what they had been unable to win on the battlefield. Such a simple view did not totally explain the Klan's sway over the South, but there is little doubt that many Confederate veterans exchanged their rebel gray for the hoods and sheets of the invisible empire. The conditions in the South, immediately after the war, added to Southerners' fears and frustrations. Cities, plantations and farms were ruined; people were broke and often hungry; there was an occupation army in their midst; and Reconstruction governments threatened to seize the traditional white ruling authority. In the first few months after the fighting ended, white Southerners had to contend with the losses of life, property, and in their eyes, honor. The time was ripe for the Ku Klux Klan to ride. 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. Why was the formation of the KKK accepted and not stopped? An obvious explanation of the South's widespread acceptance of the Klan is found in the institution of slavery. Freedom for slaves represented for many white Southerners a bitter defeat -
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