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Ku Klux Klan Research Paper

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Ku Klux Clan: The Birth of a Secret Movement The Ku Klux Klan, or KKK as it’s commonly referred to, is a group that was founded in
1866 as a form of resistance to the Reconstruction-era policies of bringing equality to black people. It started out as a social club formed by ex-Confederate vets in Pulaski, Tennessee.
Nathan Bedford Forrest was the first Grand Wizard, or leader, of the KKK. Their objective was to restore white supremacy to the southern states. To obtain this goal, the Ku Klux Klan resorted to violence against Republicans, both leaders and voters, as well as targeting black schools and churches. Despite the lack of organization, the Klan, whose name was likely derived from the
Greek word Kuklos, meaning circle, had branches in almost …show more content…

Because of this, the Klan lost some of its nonradical members, leaving the group to be run by more violent ones. All of this in conjunction with the Great Depression of the
1930’s caused the Ku Klux Klan to disband again in 1944. The third and current wave of the Ku Klux Klan emerged in the 1950’s. During this time the Civil Rights movement began to take shape in Alabama. Membership was bolstered because of this, but it also created a much more extremist right-wing group. The KKK used extreme violence in the forms of bombings, beatings, and shootings of both black and white activists to show their opposition of the Civil Rights movement. These actions, which were carried out in secret by local Klansmen, caused public outrage and ultimately won support for civil rights and contributed to the drafting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Also that year, President Johnson made a speech publicly condemning the KKK. After the Civil Rights Acts were passed, the Ku Klux Klan began opposing affirmative action, immigration, and desegregation busing. In 1971, the KKK bombed 10 of these buses in
Michigan. By 1975, Klan groups started popping up on college campuses across the nation.

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