The KKK were terrifying to many people in the 1920s & 1930s, the Klan were feared for many reasons, some of those were, they campaigned against immigrants such as blacks, Jews, and Catholics. Also the look of the KKK made them feared; they wore white robes and white conical hats which covered their faces. The Klan was also feared for the extrajudicial executions, or also known as lynching, on their victims. The Klan was also extremely powerful as well. They claimed to be a patriotic organisation trying to protect ‘American way of life’ devoted to ‘100% Americansim’.
The formation of the Ku Klux Klan was one of the major contributing factors to the long bloody struggle that was racism in America. The Klan is classified as a hate group, and throughout three summits in history forced blacks and other minorities to live in a fear that they did not deserve. The Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1866 by a group of men including John D. Kennedy, Captain John C. Lester and Frank O. McCord, among others, in Pulaski, Tennessee. “The name was derived from the Greek word kylos, meaning ‘circle’. ‘Klan was added for the purpose of alliteration” (“Ku Klux Klan”).
It was a means of social organization and control; it was technically like a foundation of a Southern white male free society; it was the new government. The cornerstone speech states “The day you make a soldier of them is the beginning of the end of Revolution. This was saying that if slaves can be soldiers, then we have been fighting for nothing. The Civil War boils down to a group of oppressed people resisting that oppression. Not really a sudden violence, but 250 years of existential, endless and constant violence.
On February, 6, 2007 the ADL (Anti- Defamation League) which monitors the activities of racist hate groups and reports its findings to law enforcement and policymakers, has documented a noticeable spike in Klan activity by Klan chapters across the country ( “Ku Klux Klan ADL”1 ). On the Klan’s website they broadcast white supremacy music and Anti-Semitism issues. The Klan membership has risen in vast numbers in the following states in the last few years (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia) (“ Ku Klux Klan ADL” 1). The Klan has adopted new publicity tricks, such as sending racist fliers to school teachers during Black History Month and has embraced the Internet as a means to spread anti-Semitism and racism ( “Ku Klux Klan ADL”1) . Although some Klansmen may still hold cross-burnings dressed in robes and hoods, today’s young Klansmen are more likely to virtually indistinguishable from racist skinheads or neo-Nazis (“ Ku Klux Klan ADL” 1).
The plan would divide the remaining Louisiana Purchase into two territories –Kansas and Nebraska- and would allow the public to decide over the admission of slavery. Antislavery and Proslavery groups rushed to Kansas to turn the tide into their favor. Soon pro-slavery peoples had the majority, and Kansas became a slave state. But by early 1856, Kansas had two fiercely loyal governments, and the population grew angry. Soon federal congressional men came to Kansas to decide the dispute.
During this time 11 southern slave states seceded from the United States and formed the Confederacy, witch fought against all states allowing slavery (free states) known as the Union. Although slavery was an attribute to the cause of the Civil War, it was not as simplistic as to just freeing the slaves. However there were more reasons that led to this grave battle like secession, as the War between the States emerged over tensions due to industrialization, state and federal rights, slave and non-slave provisions, and the election of Abraham Lincoln. During this time the North had a diverse and fast growing economy based on industry, mining, commerce and transportation like the railroad, with a large and growing population without the use of slavery north of the border states. However the South was driven by a workforce that thrived off the plantation system, which was basically the use of slaves.
Midnight Rangers: Costume and Performance in the Reconstruction-Era Ku Klux Klan. Parsons, Elaine Frantz Journal of American History, Dec2005, Vol. 92 Issue 3, p811 The Ku Klux Klan was first created in a town called Pulaski in Tennessee around 1865. It was formed by veterans of the Confederate Army. Basically they were a hate group that tried to get their group to be known.
Motivated by the dream of a world with only one race, the KKK used violence and moves above the law to support their cause. (Evans) The Ku Klux Klan began almost by accident during the rebuilding process after the civil war in the Southern United States. The southern people suffered from the effects of the great war. Many of them lost their homes and plantations, many also lost friends and loved ones to the war. The original Ku Klux Klan was formed, in April 1866, as a social organization for ex-confederates in Pulaski, Tennessee.
Lincoln supported the Union, which were the Northern States which held free blacks, and gave the Confederate States an ultimatum to join back with the Union or war will begin. Thus, the Civil War begun and it was during this time which Lincoln issued the Emancipation of Proclamation and freed the slaves in the United States. “In July of 1862 Congress passed a Confiscation Act, which enabled the freeing of slaves of those fighting in the Union.” (142) This is stating that any black that fought with the Union became a free man. The Union used this as a way of recruiting more blacks to fight in order to
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right[4][5][6][7] organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically expressed through terrorism. [8][9] Since the mid-20th century, the KKK has also been anti-communist. [8] The current manifestation is splintered into several chapters and is classified as a hate group. [10] The first Klan flourished in the South in the 1860s, then died out by the early 1870s. Members adopted white costumes: robes, masks, and conical hats, designed to be outlandish and terrifying, and to hide their identities.