The KKK Tyler Barlow Who do you think is the oldest terrorist group in America is? You may believe its Islamic Extremist, Neo Nazis, or even the mafia. All are great guess but none are as old as the Ku Klux Klan (Micheal Fisher). The Ku Klux Klan or “kkk” is a notorious cult that terrorized whites and blacks throughout the late 1800’s to mid 1900’s but still play a present in America today. 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 …show more content…
Scripture passages and encouragement from Protestant pastors helped to gain justification for there evil deeds. (Michael Fisher) One example of violence was bombings. One of the most critical bombings took place on September 15, 1963. An ear piercing blast came from the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Four African American school-aged girls were killed during the bombing and 14 others were injured resulting in civil rights activist and there followers participating in riots nationwide.(1963 Birmingham...) By this point all of the southern states have been plagued with multiply accounts of hatred for African Americans and anyone who helped them. In a studied shown it states that Alabama was by far the most discriminating state there was in the nation. Birmingham the largest city in Alabama was concluded to being the city with the most crime, murders and bombings involving the KKK. The bombing on Sixteenth Street was not the only occurrence. By 1964 make-shift bombs were so common that Birmingham earned the name “Bombingham”. (History.com/church bombing). Now police, officials of the NAACP, and friends and family of the girls were on the hunt to find the cruel men that accomplished this wicked deed. Immediately thinking that they all were Klansmen police and FBI agents begin checking all the Birmingham, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa active klans. Finally they caught the suspects. They included Bobby Frank Cherry, Robert Edward Chambliss, Herman Frank Cash, and Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr. On 1977, fourteen years after the explosion they are all convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.(10 key facts