Ku Klux Klan Research Paper

The Ku Klux Klan is a hate group known for the terrorizing of the people and riding around on horseback in white sheets at night. Most people believe the hate of of the Ku Klux Klan was directed entirely towards the black freed people. Though Freedmen's Bureau agents reported 336 cases of murder or assault with intent to kill on freedmen across the state from January 1 through November 15 of 1868. These deaths were caused by lynching, cross burning, rape and other heinous crimes committed by this southern white supremacist group. This is the short history of the Ku Klux Klan, how they started, and their history up to this date and time.

Created between 1865 and the summer of 1866, the Ku Klux Klan was originally formed by six former confederates

Though they were not originally formed as a political and social terrorist group, after they held a meeting in April of 1867 to codify rules and discuss organizational structure, they soon began targeting blacks, politicians, jews, gays, lesbians, immigrants, “carpetbaggers” of all sorts, and until recently christians, as well as dividing themselves into a number of realms, dominions, provinces, and dens, which in turn were led by Grand Dragons, Titans, Giants, and Cyclops. These outlandish names added to the mystique and popularity of the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan was known for lynching, tar and feathering, rapes and other violent attacks on anyone who opposed white supremacy. Klan like violence was also used to control freed people's social behavior, but with less success. Black churches and schools were burned, teachers were

Klansmen fought against each other and factions struggled for control. Forrest disbanded the Klan in disgust, the vast majority of local groups following in his stead. In 1915, William J. Summons was inspired to reorganize the Ku Klux Klan after seeing the movie "Birth Of A Nation," D.W. Griffith's spectacular account of Reconstruction, told from the perspective of the Klan and adopting the group's mythic vision of a noble and pristine antebellum South. The timing was perfect. The United States was struggling to meet the challenges imposed by a massive influx of immigrants, many of whom were Catholic or Jewish and few of whom spoke English. Appealing to the middle class and claiming to be a "purely benevolent" club, the Klan drew members immediately. By 1921, the Klan numbered almost 100,000 members and money flooded its coffers. At its peak in 1924, 40,000 uniformed Klansmen paraded through the streets of Washington, D.C., during the Democratic National Convention. Like a modern political lobby, the group was so influential that many politicians felt compelled to court it or even to join, particularly in the Midwestern states. As the Klan grew, so did the number and intensity of violent acts committed by its members. The group's image suffered; the hypocrisy of a self-proclaimed "law and order" organization that utilized lynchings and vigilantism did not escape public censure. Additionally, the central leadership proved