Ku Klux Klan Research Paper

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Imagine living in a world in which family, friends and loved ones are simply tortured and murdered due to the color of their skin. Throughout much of America’s history, this was the life of African American families subsisting in southern United States. The evolution of the Ku Klux Klan was one of the most subsidizing factors to the atrocious struggle of racism in America. The Ku Klux Klan is categorized as an extremist hate group, responsible for the assaults and murders of several innocent African Americans along with other minorities, that has had an everlasting effect on America. The Klux Klan, one of the most terrorist and notorious organizations, was founded in 1866 in Tennessee after the American Civil War ended in 1865. The name was developed from the Greek word kylos, meaning …show more content…

According to Andrew Selepak, “one of the most recognized groups in the white extremist movement is the Ku Klux Klan which is separated into different organizations with chapters in the United States and around the world. Although the Ku Klux Klan is only one of many white extremist groups in the world, it is the historical basis for the white racial extremist movement with a history spanning nearly 150 years” (Selepak, 2012). The purpose of the Ku Klux Klan was to terrorize newly freed African Americans and suppress their rights. After its founding, the Klan quickly spread to practically every southern state. The Klan was “led by planters, merchants, and Democratic politicians, men who liked to style themselves the South’s “respectable citizens”, the Klan committed some of the most brutal criminal acts in history. In many counties, it launched what one victim called “a reign of terror” against Republican leaders, black and white” (Foner 585). Victims targeted by the Klan included white Republicans, Unionists, candidates, educators and party organizers. The Ku Klux Klan intimidated their victims in numerous ways. The