Klan In The 1920s

After the Reconstruction, the Democrats recovered control of the Confederate States, which caused the old Klan to die out in the 1870s. The new Klan recreated itself in 1915. The new Klan was responding to the fast-growing ethnic minorities in the United States. The Klan only wanted 100% Americanism, natives, white Protestants born in the United States. The Klan was against immorality, rejected bootleg liquor, and taught hate against African Americans, Roman Catholics, Jews, immigrants, Communist, atheists prostitutes, and adulterers. The new Klan saw these groups as a threat because they believed they would make a difference in the voting platform. The Klan was most influential in Atlanta because that was the base for their headquarters.

This turn to violence was how the first Ku Klux Klan rose. The Klan was formed by six ex-Confederate Veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee, this organization started off small but began absorbing most of the other anti-Reconstruction groups in the south, like the Men of Justice, the Pale Faces, the Constitutional Union Guards, the White Brotherhood, and the Order of the White Rose (Infoplease.com). The Ku Klux Klan was created in fear of an insurrection by the ex-slaves, now the freedmen. The most recognized founder of the Klan was Nathan Bedford Forrest. Their white robes and masks are supposed to be a representation of ex-Confederate soldiers who died during the civil war. One of the Klan’s biggest goal was keeping the freedmen away from the voting polls to assure the success of ex-Confederates in gaining back their political control in many states. In 1871, President Grant took an aim at the Klan for their interference in black suffrage but by this time the support for Reconstruction was beginning to diminish because racism was still very much alive in both the north and the south. As time progressed the Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives. The democrats waged a campaign of violence to take control of Mississippi to which President Grant responded with a refusal of federal troop intervention which ended support of the Reconstruction era. In the election of 1876, Republican, Rutherford B. Haynes, reached a compromise with

The KKK adopted anti-Jewish, anti-Catholic, and anti-Immigration stances in addition to their longstanding anti-African-American beliefs. Before long, the Klan had amassed a membership of nearly 500,000 and lynching became commonplace. In many areas the Klan became a powerful political force, pushing for better roads, more funding for public schools, and great anti-immigration laws. Many Klan members were poor whites who wanted some way to protect their jobs from the many European immigrants who were moving to the cities. However, the turnover rate for membership was about 15% as people joined and realized the full extent of what they had agreed to do, and quit. Despite the Klan’s vast membership, not all Americans supported their activities. The conflict surrounding race relations in the 1920s would be hard to conquer, but the Progressive movement still had some momentum from prewar years, and it memory of its optimism had not completely died during the war.

From this document, it is clear that although after the Civil War the slavery had been abolished, people in the south still wanted to resurrect the “Old South”, and thus during the Reconstruction Era, the Ku Klux Klan was founded by a Confederate general and became known as the “invisible empire of the South” in which members represented the ghost of the Confederate dead returning to terrorize African Americans. We can see that to really achieve the union throughout the nation and eradicate racism, the U.S. still had a long way to go.

The Ku Klux Klan flourished in the South at the beginning of the Reconstruction succeeding the Civil War. There remained numerous ex-Confederates that were still strongly opposed to the Reconstruction and sought to preserve white supremacy in the South. Directly after the Civil War the government in the South was weak and vulnerable. The Ku Klux Klan leveraged this and used violence and threats to try to reestablish white supremacy. They were most successful in playing upon fears and superstitions. They not only brought terror to the black communities but they also targeted carpetbaggers and scalawags. They used these threats and fears in effectively keeping the blacks away from the polls so that the ex-Confederates could gain back political control in the

The most famous white supremacy group in American history is the Ku Klux Klan (a.k.a. The KKK) and aimed to “cleanse” the American population of black people and was used to launch attacks on black people and the people that advocated and supported their rights. The group was founded in 1865 in Tennessee by 6 members of the Confederate army and gained an immense amount of followers over the next 80 years. At its peak, the group reached around 6 million members on a global scale, extending the racism and hate worldwide. The activities of the hate-group became extremely violent as they started cross burnings, executions and mass parades to advocate their anti-civil rights movement. Eventually, they also started targeting other minorities in America, such as Jewish people, who have also faced a large struggle for rights and freedoms throughout history. Eventually, the people started to fight back against the KKK and although it still continues today as a group with an extremely small amount of members, numbers were drastically reduced, their hate crimes subsided and the black people of America once again started to regain their rights and

The group known as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was first founded in 1866. The KKK was organized by white supremacist to go against the Republicans Reconstruction-era policies. The members of the group formed in the southern states. They met secretly and formed a campaign to intimidate and use violent acts of discrimination towards both white and black Republican leaders. The Ku Klux Klan had laws passed against them, to stop there acts of injustice, which was considered terrorism. The Ku Klux Klan was a group that formed three times, and had different phases. The reformatted in the early 20th century, and came back stronger than the were before. They held rallies, burned homes and people, burnt crosses, and held marches against immigrants and other religions. Another phase was after the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s the activity was very violent

Frustrated confederate soldiers made their way back home after losing the war that they had been fighting for four years. These men formed vigilante groups, attacking black people. While soldiers did this, wealthier men who had avoided fighting in the war formed agricultural and police clubs for the same purpose; both groups soon took shape and evolved into one large group, known as the Ku Klux Klan and Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest became the first leader, known as the Grand Wizard. The name Ku Klux Klan is derived from the Greek word, Kyklos, meaning circle. The Ku Klux Klan, often shortened to the KKK, was founded in Tennessee in 1866 and grew to be one of the most feared terrorist groups in the United States, before dying off in 1869, but later being revived in 1915 (History.com Staff). The Ku Klux Klan negatively impacted the Reconstruction period through terror, intimidating Republican voters, and killing Republican officials.

Out of the three Klan’s, the one that he believes was the most mainstream was the Klan of the 1920s. One point that Shawn Lay makes is that at the peak of the Klan’s popularity if had acquired over four million members across the United States which he believed to be to high of a number to not be considered mainstream. He explains that even during the time in our country where we had widespread illiteracy there were very few people that haven’t heard of the Klan. He also makes several points that Americans would agree that no other organization except for the Klan could present such dark forces, racism and religious bigotry in the United States. Another good point that Shawn Lay makes is that many people agreed with the Klan’s views during WWI and it had the possibility to be considered a major influence during this time period. In the late 1920s the Klan’s social and political influence started to decline. One reason for this decline was because of a Klan Leader in Indiana named David C. Stephenson who was put on trial for murder. One of the last points that Lay makes is that even after the time period that the Klan had spread across the United States and became very popularly, it is still considered a historical enigma.

The Ku Klux Klan was formed as a social club by a group of Confederate Army veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee in the winter of 1865-66. The group adopted the name Ku Klux Klan from the Greek word "kyklos," meaning circle, and the English word clan. By 1944 the Ku Klux Klan had lost most of its influence and membership. It was revived during the Civil Rights era and continues today as a small organization that continues to stage demonstrations in favor of white supremacy and fundamentalist Christian theology. William J. Simmons, a former Methodist preacher, organized a new Klan in Stone Mountain, Georgia in 1915 as a patriotic, Protestant fraternal society. Then and Now: KKK membership peaked at four to five million in the mid-1920s; today there are an estimated 5,500 to 6,000 Klan members among roughly 100 groups. Although the Klan still reverted to burning crosses, torturing and murdering those whom they opposed, the organization became a powerful political force in the 1920s. This new Klan directed its activity against not just blacks, but immigrants, Jews, and Roman

The KKK, an organization formed by white southerners during Reconstruction, was revived in 1915. The KKK was particularly popular in the Midwest and Southwest as well as in some cities like Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, and Indianapolis. The KKK represented for law and order and the moral values associated with it, immigration restriction, and opposed groups foreigners (Catholics, Jews, and African Americans) according to its supporters. The Ku Klux Klan only welcomed native‐born white Protestants and its majority of supporters came from the working class members who were in competition with blacks and immigrants for jobs and housing. The KKK controlled the legislatures in many states such as Texas, Oregon, Oklahoma, and Indiana and it became important to the election of several governors and numerous local officials.

The second Ku Klux Klan lasted between 1915 to 1944 but predominantly rose and fell during the 1920s. The Ku Klux Klan was a white supremacist group with millions of members who brutally tortured and killed anyone who was not a white American. The Ku Klux Klan were known for their white robes, cone hats, and covered faces that disguised their identities. The second Ku Klux Klan’s most important part of it’s history was it’s dramatic rise and fall. The Ku Klux Klan rapidly gained popularity during the 1920s due to political encouragement and immigration, then fell due to political corruption.

The Ku Klux Klan has massively reduced by 1927. While it peaked from having over 3 million members in 1925, it had no more than several hundred thousand in 1927. Night riding of the Klan led to at least 50 people getting flogged during a two year period. Outcries of the populace of Georgia and the Carolinas brought arrests and convictions of the Klan. Therefore, the Klan was forced to retreat. The Klan endured other handicap when local Klan in the North chapters began to develop ties with American Nazis, which Southern Klansmen greatly opposed. But, the southern Klansmen was powerless to stop this coalition.

During the 1920’s rebirth of the KKK, the Klan would turn to politics to help push their beliefs. Hundreds of Klansmen would go onto win elections to local offices and state legislatures, which at the height of their power would account for more than three million members (Henretta, pg. 670). Having members of the Klan elected to local offices and state legislatures, allowed for the Klan to become very influential. Eventually becoming so influential, the clan had people feeling as if they were compelled to support or join them. Along with becoming influential, having Klansmen in local offices and state legislatures allowed for the Klan become dispersed across the country. Unlike the original Klan, the reborn Klan well geographically

The KKK flourished in the southern united states in the late 1860's and was a form of white southern resistance against what they perceived as encroaching african american rights. A united states senator named Robert c byrd was a main recruiter for the KKK when he was in his 20s - 30s. After leaving the group he became a United states senator.