Ku Klux Klan Research Paper

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Ku Klux Klan: Past, Present, and Future
Introduction: Origin of the Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan was founded to assert white supremacy, after the Civil War, in Pulaski, Tennessee near Memphis. They were a group of men only, who dressed up in costumes with hoods and masks, threatening and scaring African-Americans and other races. Five years after the KKK started, it faded away because the federal government took action against the Klan and arrested and punished many of the members (Cavendish). The KKK was re-established in 1915 (Cavendish) and grew dramatically in the 1920’s. This was due to a number of factors which included anti-Black racism, the migration of Blacks from the South to the North, World War I propaganda which sparked the national hatred of immigrants, and conflicting religious views. The 1920’s Klan gained more members by going to churches and schools, …show more content…

The Klan started breaking off into different significant branches around the 1970’s. Some of these branches include the Waco, The Knights of the White Kamellia (Moore and Parker), and The American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The Waco branch was founded in 1986 and only had six to 20 members, and The Knights of the White Kamellia was formed in 1993 with only 10 members. The American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was formed on May 6, 1994, in Indiana by Reverend Berry and five other men. Out of all the groups in America today, this one is the largest and most active with members in 48 states, Canada, seven European countries, and Australia. Over the years, the Klan has diminished from three to six million members in the 1920’s to 5,000 members; however, that doesn’t mean the Klan isn’t still recruiting and attempting to become bigger again. In 1998 the Klan added 36 new chapters which gave them have a total of 163 chapters nationwide