In the first few years after the Civil War, not only was the South economically shattered, but it now had a large population of freed slaves to account for. Many Southerners were still opposed to African-Americans having equal rights, and they lasted out in violent ways without punishment. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was a group born out of hate and resentment towards African Americans. They were able to conduct a reign of terror over the South with impunity because they had justifications for their actions, making their atrocities seem less gruesome and terrible than it actually was, and many white Southerners still saw African-Americans as inferior which often bled into all aspects of their lives. Started in 1865 and originally a club for ex-Confederate soldiers1, the KKK grew into a massive terrorist organization with the mission “…in urging upon Americans the duty and necessity of preserving America’s precious race heritage2.” They claimed that they were protecting women from being harmed and tainted by men. In reality, they were beating and hanging …show more content…
Jobs of members ranged from farmers to lawyers and doctors4. When working at their jobs, members allowed their personal opinions about African-Americans to be part of their professional life and dictate their actions. This was especially prevalent in 1866 in Memphis, Tennessee, where white policemen actively assisted the mobs with violent acts through the black neighborhoods, which killed 40 people and wounded an additional 70.5 The KKK had a large presence in the South-if they wanted a rope to hang someone they were given it immediately. They were not asked to pay and even if they had been they would not have given any. When the KKK went marched on December 3rd, 1868 they unmasked themselves when asked and none were identified to the police because the police were most likely supporters of the
The KKK went after blacks in general and anybody who doesn’t support their views, even whites. Stories of African Americans being savagely beaten reported in the newspaper and hostile notices posted for the public to send the message throughout the city to demonstrate what will happen if they don’t follow through the KKK’s plan for having a “pure” country. For example, in the newspaper report from the Shelby County Guide, they reported the KKK coming into their town to regulate matters. They, “... hung three or four negroes nearly dead, and whipped others severely,” (Source 7), just like how Mr. Morrison was critically whipped at the railroad for defending himself in a fight the other person started. Thus, the objective of the KKK is horrific, violent, and just outright
The KKK was a white nationalized group that included former veterans, which created the first branch of the group. The Klansmen founded in 1865, in Pulaski, Tennessee, is now known as the birthplace of the KKK. This group dedicated themselves to a campaign of violence to Republican leaders and voters. The KKK targeted many people based on their race or sexuality , including, Gays, Immigrants, African Americans, and Catholics(KKK history). Jim Crow laws,
The KKK began to grow and become a large problem for innocent people. In 1833 the United States passed a bill called the Force Bill (Carson 1). This made the klan disappear for awhile but did not stop them. Still to this day people are struggling with the Ku Klux
In today’s society, there are some serious misconceptions about who the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is and what they stand for. Many Americans do not have enough knowledge of the KKK’s background to form an accurate opinion on their platform. Nancy Maclean’s book, Behind the Mask of Chivalry, explains why the Ku Klux Klan rose in popularity during the 1920s. This rise in popularity resulted in the increase of racism and threatened a larger population than just the people targeted by the KKK. What caused them to hate certain people?
Equality for African Americans did not get put into place after the Civil War because of Lincoln’s assassination, nobody after him would necessarily support civil rights because they either didn’t support it, or they didn’t want to show they supported it because they would have had a chance of losing office. The South also depended heavily on slave trade; most southerners didn’t just give up their slaves they had already “owned”. The Ku Klux Klan Act was an act
The KKK used many ways to scare and threaten African Americans such as physical abuse, verbal abuse, and torturing them in horrifying ways. The KKK was first known as a group who fooled around in the woods and get drunk until they started scaring and torturing African Americans as their daily entertainment, ¨Attacking under cover of night, the nineteenth- century klan whipped, robbed, murdered, and raped their victims.¨ (¨Ku Klux Klan¨1). It is sad how innocent African Americans became part of the KKK´s everyday torturing entertainment. Not only did the KKK whipped, robbed, murdered, and raped their victims, they also burned crosses on their victim´s lawn because of their hatred against many religions. The KKK's main goal was to limit the rights
At the end of civil war in the united states in the nineteenth century, American slaves were free, but not from discrimination. The country had expanded its territory to the west that allowed some people to relocate rather than just staying in south alone. Those who remained in the south faced various hardships whereas those who moved to the west experienced vast challenges. When the Congress passed the civil rights bill in 1866 followed by Reconstruction in the following year, it implied that the former slaves acquired equal status with the whites. In the south, the hope for racial equality among the blacks and immigrant communities was contested, more so by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), which used fear and terror to promote white supremacy.
The KKK killed so many people, the powerful government thinking that whites and blacks are not equal, the leaders only wanting white people in power, and how all 1st class men are in the KKK, the south could not have made it any more difficult to change their ways and their
Most white supremacy groups were only local town lynching mobs, but another national white supremacy group that was most feared was the “Klu-Kux-Klan” or also know as the “KKK”. According to the Salem Press (2011) Gorrell explained this white supremacy group was formed in 1866 and was a “group of white supremacists, disaffected by the outcome of the Civil War, grew into an organization of institutionalized race hatred.” (pg.3) After the KKK was formed every African American living in the south knew who the klan was and new to stay out of their
This terror of violence was spurred by the KKK that expanded its influence as far as the North and west” (1920s, WWI, Segregation PowerPoint 2/7/16). Violence didn’t just end there. “A prominent negro attorney, caught up in the force’s crackdown, was dragged out of his car and searched at gunpoint by a snarling cop” (Boyle 121). Being forceful and grabbing a man out of his car to search him is wrong. Boyle shows that these violent actions were not of just KKK members, but individuals of society who believed they were superior and continued to deny the rights and
In 1915, a man named William J. Simmons watched the movie, ”Birth Of A Nation”, which is about the reconstruction, but it takes place through the eyes of someone in the KKK. This inspired William to reorganize the KKK. He claimed that the group was dedicated to “comprehensive Americanism”, and when the movie aired in Atlanta, he put an ad in the Atlanta paper for the KKK next to the movies ad. He had very good timing considering the United States was getting an immense number of immigrants. The KKK had claimed to be “purely benevolent” and when World War I had begun, the group promised to protect the home front from many different racial groups.
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.
The Ku Klux Klan or KKK has created centuries of fear. They originated in Pulaski, Tennessee. The famous hate group was out to re establish white supremacy. The KKK has influenced local governments and people in power. It has also had an impact on American people and specifically black minorities.
By 1870 the Klan was in almost every Southern State. At its height, the Klan didn 't brag an organized structure or any clear leadership. Klan members wore masks, dressed in long white robes and hoods. Normally would carry out attacks at night. On their own, but in support common goals of defeating radical reconstruction in the south.
The ADKN (or Aga Khan Development Network) is an NGO that is organized into different agencies that accomplish different needs. These include FOCUS, AKA, AKAM, AKES, AKF (Canadian chapter AKFC), AKFED, AKHS, AKPBS, AKTC, AKU, AND UCA. These agencies cover the different fundamentals of helping a third-world country, from education to culture. The one that has the most effects on Canada is the AKFC, or Aga Khan Foundation Canada. The AKDN is funded by His Highness the Aga Khan, as well as through donations and events such as the Partnership Walk, which takes place in the U.K, the U.S, and Canada.