Ku Klux Klan Research Paper

The Ku Klux Klan has been known as an extremely violent hate group. The Klan has been involved with many bombings, lynchings, shootings and many more racist acts. Since 1866 there have been three generations of Klans that have organized for numerous reasons, all of which are truly very different. In the Klan, different individuals are given ranks such as: Grand/Imperial Wizard, Grand/Imperial Dragon, Granii, Ghouls, etc. During the Reconstruction Era former Confederate soldiers were fed up with politicians and looked to overthrow African-American leaders. The first generation of the Klan was organized sometime between December 1865 and August 1866 in Pulaski, Tennessee. Nathan Bedford Forrest, renowned lieutenant general of the Confederate

Colonel William Joseph Simmons founded the Klan after watching D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation. Simmons was the Imperial Wizard and started the cross-burning era. By 1921, the second movement adopted a modern business system of using a full-time recruiter. The second Klan appealed to new members as more of a fraternity than a hate group. They preached “One-Hundred Percent Americanism.” The Klan demanded the purification of politics and called for stricter morality. They also pushed for better enforcement of prohibition. During the incarnation, the Klan broadened their message by also targeting their hate to Catholics, Jews, and new Southern Europeans, such as Italians, arriving during the Great Migration. The new Klan threatened “rum runners” and bootleggers. They pushed for a more pure, clean life for Americans. The total membership at its peak was around fifteen percent of the eligible population, about four to five million men. However, by the late 1920’s, the organization began to become corrupt with criminal behavior in leaders. External opposition made membership plummet. In 1930, population had dwindled down to around 30,000. By 1940, the Klan had dissolved once