The Ku Klux Klan: history and impact

Ku Klux Klan was founded by Nathan Bedford Forrest and five other educated, middle-class Confederate veterans on December 24, 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee (Ku pp). The name was constructed by combining the Greek word for circle with "clan" (Ku pp). The term Ku Klux Klan is used to refer to a number of past and present fraternal organizations within the United States that have advocated white supremacy (Ku pp).

The Klan's first incarnation was in 1866, and its main purpose was to resist Congressional Reconstruction by intimidating "carpetbaggers" and "scalawags" (Ku pp).

From the beginning the Klan adopted violent methods, and was involved in a wave of 1,300 lynchings of Republican voters in 1968 (Ku pp). By the early 1870's, the Klan had been destroyed by President Ulysses S. Grant under the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act (Ku pp). However, in 1915, a second Ku Klux Klan was founded by William Joseph Simmons, inspired by the newfound power of the modern mass media, such as the film The Birth of a Nation, and inflammatory and anti-Semitic newspapers accounts surrounding the trial and lynching of accused murderer Leo Frank (Ku pp). The intent of this second Klan was to maintain the dominance of white Protestants over blacks, as well as Roman Catholics, Jews, Asians, and other immigrants (Ku pp). Although this group preached racism and was known for lynching and other violent acts, it operated openly, and by the 1920's had over 4 million members, many of whom were politicians at all levels of government (Ku pp).