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Ku Klux Klan Research Paper

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Many people have wished they could do whatever they wanted and not get in trouble for it. (I know I have!) The Ku Klux Klan did just that. They murdered, tortured, terrorized, and pillaged African American people, homes and communities without fear of repercussions. The KKK was able to get away with many felonious crimes, due to their immunity after the Civil War. The Klan used violence and bribery to force African Americans to be respectful or to make Republicans drop out of politics. Many people joined the Klan; revered leaders, farmers, and everybody in between. The Ku Klux Klan was originally a social club for former Confederate soldiers. It later evolved into a terrorist group responsible for thousands of deaths. They weakened the South’s …show more content…

In one raid, 49 people were killed, 70 were injured, and many buildings were burned. One man, Abram Colby, was offered $5000 to leave his political standing, and when he refused, was severely beaten within inches of his life. “I have never gotten over it yet. They broke something inside of me.” There have been many influential people high in the KKK lineup. The first “Grand Wizard”, the highest ranking leader, was Nathan Bedford Forrest. He was a big general in the Civil War. It wasn’t just the influential people who joined the Klan either. There were people from all social classes. Colby, identifying his attackers, states “Some are first-class men in our town. One is a lawyer, one a doctor and some are farmers.” The KKK was very open and not worried about repercussions. They didn’t hesitate to take off their masks. They also made very public threats, not caring about who heard or saw. The Ku Klux Klan was a terror and menace in our country. Thankfully, we don’t have to openly deal with them anymore. Yes, we have other racial problems, but no KKK. They slaughtered, tormented and threatened all African American people. We are lucky to be rid of

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The Klu-Klux-Klan was a white supremacist group that opposed “Reconstruction” and equal rights for freed slaves (Hook Exercise). They, to my standards, really would do whatever it takes to stop Reconstruction, even if it meant killing innocent people for that. John W. Stephens, a former senator from Caswell, was brutally murdered by none other than the Klu-Klux-Klan in a Grand Jury room (Doc. A Par.1). John W. Stephens was stabbed five to six times then even hanged on a hook in the same jury room.

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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.

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In the South, there was a group called the Ku Klux Klan, or the KKK. They would run rampant killing whoever they pleased, and no one would stop them. The KKK would kill political figures who supported Reconstruction or freedman. In a testimony to the Senate, Abram Colby states, “On the 29th of October 1869, [the Klansmen] broke my door open , took me out of my bed, took me to the woods and whipped me three hours or more and left me for dead” (Colby 513). The KKK targeted African Americans and tortured them to death.

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Up until the Ku Klux Act, the Ku Klux Klan’s (KKK) influence spread throughout the Southern states and acted as a violent and driving continuation of the Confederate movement after the Civil War. It was created right after the Civil War by six Confederate Army veterans. Not only had the South just suffered their most humiliating military loss, but they also lost the institution of slavery, money, government power and beloved family members. As a result of their loss in the Civil War and the emancipation of their slaves, the Southern white man felt great embarrassment and humiliation. Though he could not preserve the institution of slavery, he now felt an obligation to preserve and reassert white supremacy.

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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.

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The KKK was a group of white southerners who did not want the policies establishing political and economic equality for blacks to be successful. The KKK engaged in underground campaigns of intimidation and violence directed at Republican leaders, both white and black. One of the most notorious areas of the Klan was South Carolina. In January 1871, five hundred masked men attacked a Union county jail and lynched eight black prisoners. Acts like these would go “unnoticed” by officials and other influential citizens in the area because of the fear of how the Klan would retaliate and also by the lack of care for what the Klan was doing.

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Blacks did everything in their power to avoid interaction with the Ku Klux Klan at all costs but sometimes this was inevitable. The Ku Klux Klan was responsible for almost all of the lynchings carried out on blacks during the Jim Crow era and afterwards. The Ku Klux Klan believed in the superiority of the white race and that blacks had no place in their world. They were so strong about their beliefs that they would torture, maim, hang, burn, and beat blacks inhumanely. The Ku Klux Klan created a fear within all African Americans across the

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One of the reasons the KKK was able to get away with such disgusting crimes was because they claimed to be protecting America and its people. Not only that, but the KKK also had several Klan members who were in positions of power in the government which allowed them to commit crimes without just punishment. One of the major claims of the KKK was to ‘ensure that the rights of Americans weren’t being violated’ as well as ‘protect the decency of America.’ In the Klansman’s Manual, it is stated that one of the

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The Ku Klux Klan: A challenging time in American history “The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is a white supremacist group that was created in 1866. Throughout its infamous history, factions of the secret fraternal group have used acts of terrorism. Including bombing, lynching, rape, arson, and murder—to oppose the granting of civil rights to Blacks. Deriving its membership from native born white Protestant U.S. citizens, the KKK has also been anti Semitic and anti Catholic http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Ku_Klux_klan.aspx

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The Ku Klux Klan, made up of former Confederate officers who idealized an antebellum Southern heritage, became folk heroes by terrorizing outsiders who challenged race relations by assisting blacks. Catholics, foreigners, former slaves, and their sympathizers were targeted for wanting to push reforms that went against the Southern way of life. As one historian points out, the KKK gained sympathy because they were seen as defenders and policemen of the people who protected the prevailing values of society, including Protestantism, whiteness, and genteel southern culture (Kinshasa 15). The KKK and its sister organizations were even sponsored by state governments, such as Kentucky and Mississippi, as a police force to maintain the status quo (Parsons 160). The presence of the Klan and other forms of white resistance offered white residents a form of security during this uncertain time period.

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Kimberly Shirley Mr. Andrew Turner History 162 24 November 2014 The Rise of The Ku Klux Klan In the winter between 1865-1866, the Ku Klux Klan was started in Pulaski, Tennessee. Also known as the KKK or the “invisible empire of the south”, the Ku Klux Klan originally started as a secret fraternity club by six confederate veterans. As the organization quickly started to grow, the Ku Klux Klan spread over the entire south.

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The Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1866 and expanded to almost every southern state by 1870. The Klan was founded as a social club by a group in Pulaski, Tennessee that mainly consisted of confederate veterans. The first two words of its name are based off the Greek word ‘’Kyklos’’ meaning circle. (history.com staff 2009, Ku Klux Klan, URL: history.com/topics/ku-klux-klan) The KKK was formed to fight against the Republican Party.

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Almost every American state had some type of KKK group and all had the same beliefs as what was being preached by their leadership. Over the years the groups have been responsible for not only lynching’s and intimidation but also increasing their tactics of terror by using explosives to kill or maim colored people and those who supported or fought for their rights.

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Akins (2006) explains, “Every year people associated with the Ku Klux Klan groups commit crimes ranging from minor acts of intimidation to major hate crimes and even terrorism.”

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In Pulaski Tennessee December 24 1865, there was a group of six ex-confederate veterans convenes that wanted to form a ¨secret society¨ called the KKK. The group was originally called the Kuklos but they decided to add Klan and the KKK was born.. As time went on the group rapidly grew and spread across most of the southern states by 1870 (history.com staff). There were many forms of the KKK, their intentions were to reverse the rights of african Americans, Kill all the African Americans in the south.

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