ipl-logo

Ku Klux Klan Research Paper

1841 Words8 Pages

In America there has been many different hate groups whose purpose, although on face value seems to be racism, is rather political, economic and elitist. In the United States, for over 150 years, one of these groups, in particular the KKK, aka Klu Klux klan, has forced its political objectives of segregation and demolition of civil rights by terrorist acts and has influenced the start of other groups to act the same. The KKK is a political and criminal organization whose agenda is to maintain a low economic class that can be used and abused by economic usurpers. The Ku Klux Klan began as a political reaction to the confederate republic’s devastating defeat, politically, socially, and economically to the North, following the Civil War, morphed …show more content…

The organization resulted in thousands of deaths, injuries, riots, etc. In 1866 a quarrel between whites and blacks killed and wounded many along with the destruction of schools and churches. Two months later a new riot occurred in New Orleans, the beginning the spread of racist attacks, mostly throughout the south. The Klan and other terrorist groups began intimidating republicans with brutal acts. For example, “In Kansas, over 2,000 murders were committed in connection with the election. In Georgia, the number of threats and beatings was even higher. And in Louisiana, 1000 blacks were killed as the election neared. In those three states, Democrats won decisive victories at the polls” (“Grant, and the Reconstruction of the KKK”). The racist acts are shown as very political, having these murders connected with the election when at that time most of the Republican portion of the legislature was …show more content…

A movie released in 1915 entitled “Birth of a Nation” by W.G. Griffiths romanticized the KKK as heroes, and initiating a new group of members, wearing white hooded robes, and burning crosses, a Scottish ritual call to arms. A new leader, Colonel William J Simmons goal was to now create a new and “improved“ Klan. His goal was now to create a new and “improved” klan. He would send hundreds of salesmen, mostly Protestant ministers all over the country in hope to sell the Klan’s beliefs. It did not take much time for millions of Klansmen and Klanswomen to join and immediately an increase in beatings and murders occurred, especially in the south. The killings beatings escalated from specifically officers in the government/ blacks to white Protestants who offended the Ku Klux Klan in some way, for example, “This second generation of the Klan was not only anti-black but also took a stand against Roman Catholics, Jews, foreigners and organized labor” (History.com Staff 1). Simmons established new rules as to who was able to join, and became rather strict about

Show More
Related
1262 Words | 6 Pages

Due to the ratification of the amendments, many southern elites could not stand the fact that African Americans were freed. One solution that was developed was to destroy reconstruction by murdering Black Americans. The Ku Klux Klan was then formed, this group consisted of vindictive Confederate Army veterans. Sought out to be heros to many southern democrats, but a nightmare for African American families. The Ku Klux Klan terrorized many African American families, burned down churches, drove thousands of families out of their homes, and caused great mayhem.

Read More
496 Words | 2 Pages

The Ku Klux Klan first emerged in Pulaski, Tennessee following the Civil War. As we know today, the mere mention of the Klan triggers fear as the KKK is known for its various tactics of violence that came in the form if lynchings, murders, and mutilations. Following their emergence, the KKK were quickly symbolized and portrayed as the protectors of the South, following the defeat of the Southern states in the Civil War and the beginning of the period of Reconstruction by the federal government (Gurr, 1989, p. 132). During the 1920s, the KKK achieved its greatest political success and growth outside of the South. During this period, the membership of the Klan heavily expanded to the states of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Oregon, to which the KKK obtained two to two and one-half million members at its apex.

Read More
601 Words | 3 Pages

The Ku Klux Klan, better known as the KKK, is a white supremacist group. The actions of its members prove the group to be a domestic terrorist organization. Its name comes from the Greek word “kuklos” meaning “circle”. The KKK was formed in opposition to former slaves being granted their freedom and ultimately, receiving their natural-born rights. Members of the KKK call themselves “the ghosts of the Confederacy”, further deepening the group’s ties to the racial and political extremism of the post-Civil War Era.

Read More
420 Words | 2 Pages

KKK’s Negative Impact on Civil Rights Anthony Earwood English 1 The Ku Klux Klan's impact on the Civil Rights Movement was significant, as the group's use of violence and intimidation tactics, opposition to desegregation and racial equality, and influence on the political and social climate of the United States had a profound effect on the advancement of civil rights in America (Southern Poverty Law Center, 2023). Firstly, the Ku Klux Klan's use of violence and intimidation tactics had a chilling effect on the Civil Rights Movement. The group often targeted African Americans who were advocating for their rights, as well as white individuals who supported the movement (National Humanities Center, 2023).

Read More
439 Words | 2 Pages

The original Ku Klux Klan started in 1865, but within years, numbers dwindled, leaving only small-town clusters. Decades later, in 1915, a Georgian preacher named William J. Simmons reorganized the KKK. He was inspired by the silent film “Birth of a Nation,” which glorified the Klan as knights. Simmons brought together millions, promising to protect the “morals of the nation.” He appealed to the ideals of White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, the only people allowed to join.

Read More
1407 Words | 6 Pages

The Ku Klux Klan is a very important piece of our country's history. Characterized by not only animosity towards African-Americans, but also violence towards Jewish people, and equality supporters. It is one of the most brutal organizations to ever start in the United States. The Ku Klux Klan started and fell, but then reappeared in a reorganized fashion. They tried multiple times to reemerge as a more powerful and collected group but ultimately dissolved.

Read More
608 Words | 3 Pages

At that time a group of white people started attacking black people and also the white people who supported the blacks. This group of people does not want the blacks and the whites who supported blacks to be treated on par with them. The goal of the Ku Klux Klan was to prevent blacks from economic opportunities and to resist that northern influence in the south. By 1870 this Ku Klux Klan group was very violent and they have branches in almost every state in South. These group people wear long white robes and hoods, face masks and they attack people in nights and kill them if they didn’t follow the Klan’s ideas.

Read More
1349 Words | 6 Pages

Barring Black Americans from gaining the right to vote was a leading goal for the KKK (Salem Press). The Klan assaulted Black citizens and activists with various methods, which included but were not limited to, whippings, beatings, kidnappings, killings, and more specifically, lynchings (open hangings). Following its rebirth in 1915, after being disbanded in 1871, the KKK began to focus more antagonism on a wider range of minority groups, including Jews, Catholics, Blacks, Immigrants, Socialists, and Communists ("Effects of the Ku Klux"). In fact, after the Klan was revived, it was responsible for more than 500 lynchings of African Americans (Salem Press). As minority groups became more plentiful and widespread, the Klan gained targets.

Read More
1751 Words | 8 Pages

Since the Ku Klux Klan’s beginning, it has thrived off the racist, xenophobic, homophobic, and anti-semitic qualities of americans, all in the fight for white supremacy. In the Klan’s beginning, it was a group against the reconstruction of Black lives after slavery, but after that, they began to those who were against the KKK or different from the KKK in anyway. KKK members were and still are willing to do anything from lynchings to marches to bombings in the name of their cause. The KKK was and is allowed to infect U.S. government in a large scale, so it has given them an edge unlike many other hate groups in the U.S. Throughout the Ku Klux Klan’s history, they have influenced American life through violence and fear by terrorizing anyone who

Read More
1685 Words | 7 Pages

In the past, racism was more common than it is today, but the Ku Klux Klan is synonymous with racism. The Ku Klux Klan was a group that later evolved into many separate groups that practiced violence and intimidation against black Americans and/or people who didn’t meet their ideal religion or race. This included black people, republicans, Jewish immigrants, and Catholic immigrants. The original Ku Klux Klan group originated in Pulaski, Tennessee, which soon spread to almost every southern state in America. Although the Ku Klux Klan excluded many whites who did not qualify, it devoted itself to intimidating anyone who did not agree with their ideas.

Read More
535 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
982 Words | 4 Pages

The Klan’s initial plan was to be a peaceful group that was anti-reconstruction but eventually resulted to violence to get there way. The KKK participated in lynching, hangings, riots and abduction all while klansmen hiding their identities under their white, hazy cloak. The Klan’s beginnings seemed to be harmless but as the years passes, violence and

Read More
817 Words | 4 Pages

The most violence happened within 1955-1968. In May of 1955 “Reverend George Lee, vice president of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership and NAACP worker, was shot in the face and killed for urging blacks in the Mississippi Delta to vote.” Later that year in August “Lamar Smith, 63-year-old farmer and World War II veteran, was shot in cold blood on the crowded courthouse lawn in Brookhaven, Mississippi, for urging blacks to vote. In Local People, John Dittmer wrote, ‘although the sheriff saw a white man leaving the scene covered with blood, no one admitted to having witnessed the shooting’ and ‘the killer went free.’” White men were very violent towards black for several unknown reasons, “national media coverage of violence – even murder – directed toward blacks had outraged the American public.”

Read More
1786 Words | 8 Pages

After the tensions and the loss of the Confederate fight in the American Civil War, hardships were endured with immense animosity towards the black population and the reconstruction policies that were enforced by the Republican party. This shared extreme hate and hostility by white southern men led to the creation of the infamous group titled the Ku Klux Klan on June 9th, 1866, only a little over a year after the end of the civil war. The formation of the Ku Klux Klan induced pure hatred towards blacks in the beginning, but would later turn into an organization that opposed anti-Americanism, such as immigration, women 's rights, organized labor, and any religious order that didn’t pertain to that of protestantism. This was enhanced by the

Read More
2279 Words | 10 Pages

The Klan was called for by a former minister who later died in a car crash (2011). During his recovery, he recreated every aspect of the Ku Klux Klan in a new, more anti-Semitic light (2011). This is what many consider the official creation of the second Klan, which took place on a cold night in October 1915 (2011). Their first official act was on Thanksgiving day that same year when they lit a cross on a hill outside of town (2011). The Klan was founded on the protection of white rights and white women, a ritualistic belief in Christianity, and rejection of Catholics, people of color, immigrants, and many others (2011).

Read More

More about Ku Klux Klan Research Paper

Related Topics

Open Document