The Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan was founded by a group of confederate veterans originally as a social club in Pulaski, Tennessee in 1866. The first official leader, or “grand wizard” as they were called was Nathan Bedford Forrest. The KKK dedicated themselves to an underground campaign of violence against republican leaders and voters of both races in an attempt to reverse the policies of radical reconstruction and restore white supremacy. Most of their activities and meeting occurred at night. The first KKK movement grew nationwide and became an organization of over 550,000 members and by 1870 the KKK had extended to almost every southern state.

The first movement of the Ku Klux Clan had ended towards the beginning of the 1870’s due to the accomplishment of restoring white supremacy. The second KKK movement began in 1915 founded by William Joseph Simmons at Stone Mountain. The growth of the second KKK movement occurred greatly from a new anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, anti-prohibitionist, and anti-Semitic desire. This clan also grew from issues regarding divorce and adultery. The clan was nation-wide by the 1920’s. during the 1920’s the KKK had also developed a supplementary clan for women members whom participated in rallies, cross burnings, and parades. After the clans peak in 1925 membership started to decline quite rapidly after events like the murder trial of the grand wizard in 1925 which demolished the superior image of the KKK as defenders of the law. After the second movement of the KKK had ended, many other small independent groups started to adopt the name Ku Klux Klan from the time period of the 1950s to the present. These groups had no affiliations to the second movement of the KKK. There are still Ku Klux Klan organizations in operation today.

The Ku Klux Klan was a powerful organization promoting white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration that stuck fear into both blacks and whites across the United States.