History of the Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan, or the KKK was founded in 1866 by southerners that opposed the Republicans Reconstruction Policy. The group of southerners pushed for white supremacy throughout the country. This is one of the largest violent terrorist organizations in the country. Many blacks and other racial minority groups lost their lives due to this Klan. The Klan peaked in the 1920’s with members controlling the politics of the country.

1867 to 1871

The white supremacist, Nathan Bedford Forrest, became the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan murdered thousands of people in the former confederate states to suppress the political participation of blacks and their allies. The main focus of the Klan was to reestablish white supremacy throughout America. They opposed of the Reconstruction policy of the Republicans that pushed for economic equality of the blacks. In 1871, Congress passed the Klan Act that allowed the government to arrest Klan members and intervene in the activities the Klan is participating in. The Klan dismembered for nearly fifty years and was replaced by minor, small violent groups.

1915

After approximately fifty years, the Klan started back up again after a film called “Birth of a Nation” by D.W. Griffiths. This film viewed the Klan as heroic and brought them back into society. The Klan was no longer only racist to the blacks; they also included the Jews Catholics, and immigrants. A Klan member once told the media, “Catholics bar themselves [from the Klan] by their allegiance to the pope; the Jews because they do not believe in the birth of Christ, and negroes [sic] because of their color. We want only Caucasians, who, so far as their allegiance is concerned, have it all confined within the boundaries of the United States. That does not mean that we are opposed to them. We are organized to maintain American principles and are opposed only to lawlessness and lack of Americanism.” The Klan strictly did not want to associate themselves with people that were not one hundred percent American in their eyes.

The Klan and a Georgia lynch mob go on to murder a Jewish factory superintendent, Leo Frank, and then burn a cross on the hilltop, giving itself the name Knights of the KKK. Leo Frank was falsely accused of killing a factory worker, Mary Phagan, in the pencil factory that he managed. He was then sentenced to life in prison. However, the Klan was not satisfied with that decision and drug Leo Frank out of prison and lynched him that night. The lynching of Leo Frank was the rise of the second Klan. It was the first major incident the Klan had done since they previously dispersed. This placed fear into every American, because it was unpredictable as to what the Klan would do next.

William Joseph Simmons was with the Klan that night of the lynching. He was the one that was inspired by the film and wanted to pursue the idea of what the Ku Klux Klan was about. After Frank was lynched, he and the members of the Klan went to the top of Stone Mountain. Inspired from the film, they lit a cross on fire and watched it burn. That night, the members on the hill were inaugurated to form the new Klan. In the film, “Birth of a Nation,” the idea of burning a cross was from the historical Scottish clans as a way to signal from one hill top to another. D.W. Griffiths took the idea of cross burning to symbolize the work of the Klan. From that night on, after the Klan was in action through violence or any other form of work, the Klan members would all go to the top of hill and burn a cross to symbolize the powerful work they felt they had done. They called themselves the Knights of the KKK and rose for the second time and instilled fear and violence in the Americans’ eyes.

1923

In addition to the southern, white men of the Ku Klux Klan, the women formed as an auxiliary group to the Klan. Their main function was to sew the Klansmen symbol on their clothes or make other clothes for their disguise. They also promoted racism, nationalism, traditional morality, and religious intolerance through nonviolence actions (Blee 1991). They were big on advocating for the Prohibition movement and used that as a focus point on their “agenda.” They felt that alcohol was a detriment to society and wanted it banned. The women were also against all racial minorities, and not just the blacks. “Klanswomen also participated in boycotts of businesses owned by Jews and others who were not considered ‘100% American’ (anyone not native-born, white, and Protestant)” (Kleinegger). The women of the Klan strove to teach others about the Klan’s beliefs rather than act on them in a violent way.

1924

By this time, the Klan went on to hold elections for office from the east to the west. In states like Colorado and Indiana, enough officials were elected in positions of power to run the government. It was known as the “invisible empire.” Indiana had the largest national organization with 250,000 members, about thirty percent of the native born white men in the United States. This government stressed more social issues than just racism. They wanted to uphold moral standards, enforce Prohibition, and end political corruption. The government would do whatever they could to make sure they had just the right citizens in their area that held up to their standards. They attacked gamblers, adulters, and the undisciplined youth. They wanted the people to listen and vote for everything they wanted, like no Catholic schools. This government was very anti-Catholic and wanted no Catholics to exist. They felt that the Catholics were planning to overthrow the government and begin taking over. The government was very wealthy and held much of the power in the state. They used their money to get officials elected and put into power. They bribed Americans and wanted them to vote with them and drive minorities out. In fact, street fights would break out between Klan members and minorities in the heart of Indianapolis. The Indiana Klan rule of the government sharply declined when the Grand Dragon, D.C. Stephenson, was convicted of rape and murder of a woman. Once Stephenson was imprisoned, he began to tell the press all the Klan members that were paid to vote certain ways to that paid other people to vote certain ways. When investigations began, thousands of Klan members dropped out and did not want to be associated with the Klan any longer.

Late 1920’s

In the late 1920’s, the number of members of the Klan began to decline. The Klan peaked in the mid 1920’s, but by 1930 it is estimated that only 30,000 members remained. The fall of the Klan was due to new state laws, poor publicity, lack of interest in its members, and the depression in the 1930’s. Laws prohibited the wearing of masks, which eliminated their secret element. They got bad publicity from their so called “thugs” in their organization that made them look bad. The southern Klan spirit broke the Democratic hold in the south. In 1928, a Catholic man, Alfred E. Smith, was the Democratic Presidential candidate. Also, members of the Klan could no longer pay the dues of being a part of the Klan. Financially, they were unstable and unable to keep the support of the people. Because of the depression, most people were worried about finding jobs and food for their families rather than being a part of the Klan. This demonstrates how the Klan no longer took over the country, and other methods of peace were trying to be resolved. This was only a hiatus, however, as the Klan would later start up again

The Ku Klux Klan swept the country in the 1920’s. By the use of their violent terrorist tactics, they held most political power in the states. Innocent lives of the blacks and other racial minorities were lost because of the mindset of white supremacists. As the Klan expanded into racist women, the dominant southern group created destruction all over. The KKK is an organization that negatively impacted the country to try promote a society that would never coexist.

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