The Ku Klux Klan is a white supremacist movement that has a goal of total racial segregation. The group is often portrayed as the first terrorist group in the Unites States. The group has always attempted to accomplish their goals through violence. The KKK was established following the end of the Civil War. Targets were mostly African Americans, but also included immigrants like Jews, socialists, and communists.
During the 1950s, the Ku Klux Klan was anti-Republican because the party was inclusive of African Americans. The KKK was known to burn down homes of any voters that they learned were Republican. They also lynched the residents of the home. Lynching, or any violent act towards targeted victims, was mainly done by hanging a person without
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There were approximately 4,743 lynches reported. These acts of aggression mostly took place down in the South because racism was more concentrated there than in the North. African Americans made up 72.7% of the total deaths by lynching. This number was only a rough estimate since many lynches were undocumented because of their lack of legality.
The KKK’s actions became increasingly more inhumane after the blacks were emancipated. Besides hanging, victims were often burned alive and cut to pieces. In particular situations, people were shot and drowned. Blacks who were prosperous were especially targeted by the Klan.
The public became unsettled as the murders mounted. At first, the Klan kept everything secretive because they served no political or social purposes. When slavery was made illegal, the Klan began riots in cities like Chicago.
Black schools and churches were bombed by the KKK during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. A group known as the Knights of the White Camelia joined the KKK to restore white supremacy in the South. They did this because African Americans were participating more in politics. Black legislators were heavily