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The Klu Klux Klan in America Essay

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The Klu Klux Klan was actually started in 1865 by six men in Pulaski, Tennessee and their white, hooded guise was meant to mock ghosts. The name came from the Greek word kuklos which means circle and the Scottish word clan. During its beginnings the Klan was thought to be a passing guerilla organization which would last only as long as “Northern carpetbaggers, illiterate Negros, and Southern renegades ruled the Southern states” (Secret Societies). By 1868 there were five-hundred and fifty thousand member of the Klan, also known as Palefaces, the White Brotherhood, the White League, Knights of the White Camellia. Forrest realized he was losing control of the Klan in 1869 and ordered disbandment, an order that was never followed. At one …show more content…

The Anti-defamation league estimates that there are at least five-thousand members and associates of the Klan today. However, other evidence suggests that Klan chapters have actually decreased in numbers since 2006. The Klan’s chapters each have different headquarters in the state they represent according to Holthouse and Potok. The organization is structured in a hierarchy form with the territory also divided in a hierarchy structure. The South, the largest region, was called the Invisible Empire and ruled by the founder of the Klu Klux Klan, General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest was the Grand Wizard and he had a staff of ten Genii. The next division of land was the states, Realms, which each had a Grand Dragon and eight Hydras. Every congressional district was a Dominion and is ruled by a Grand Titan and six Furies. Every county in the South is called a Province which is ruled by a Grand Giant and four Goblins. The smallest area of land, a Den, is every neighborhood overlooked by a Grand Cyclopes and two Night Hawks (Secret Societies). Another division of the Klu Klux Klan with a hierarchy structure is the Knights Party, the non-violent political portion. This hierarchy works with local community divisions following the commands of their headquarters, if there is no local division available then the individuals can work right with the

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