Imagine sleeping fearfully in a society where many friends and family are being constantly persecuted because of the amount of pigment beneath the skin. Would most know exactly what to do during the widespread of the 1900s despicable group known as the Ku Klux Klan? Those of prior time periods asked themselves a question, similar to one such as, What true impact does the Ku Klux Klan truly have on American society? When the Ku Klux Klan began, there was an enormous amount of fear infused into the hearts, minds, and souls of black America. The Klan, through growth and changing their principals, were able to entice racist American men into joining this heinous group of madmen. The Ku Klux Klan’s beginnings - how and why they came to be - their …show more content…
The streets had mostly criminals, such as Al Capone and Bugs Moran, roaming around cities like New York and various others, running underground gambling, bootlegging, and other illegal operations. In the 1920s, the criminal chaos of the the Ku Klux Klan had risen extensively. Membership of the KKK became easier than ever, it quickly escalated to six figures under the leadership of “Colonel” William Simmons and advertising expert Edward Young Clarke. The common crimes the Ku Klux Klan had committed in the name of it's strongly bias beliefs were terrifyingly immoral, organizing hangings, floggings, mutilations, tarring and featherings, kidnappings, brandings by acid, along with a new intimidation tactic, cross-burnings. The Ku Klux Klan had now became a clear threat to the eyes in the Bureau and all how who had knew about them, a deep threat to the public's safety and …show more content…
As time went on, the thousands of cases that was swept under the rug was finally noticed and one of those cases so happen to be the Mississippi Burning Trial. On June 21, 1964, three young civil rights workers-a twenty-one year old black Mississippian, James Chaney, and two white New Yorkers, Andrew Goodman, age twenty, and Michael Schwerner, age twentyfour, were murdered near Philadelphia, in Neshoba County, Mississippi ,while working to register black voters in Mississippi during Freedom Summer created by the NAACP, and investigating the burning of a black church. They were arrested by the police on trumped-up charges, imprisoned for several hours, and then released after dark into the hands of the Ku Klux Klan, who beat and murdered
The Ku Klux Klan, also known as the KKK, was thriving in its second generation during the 1920s. The Ku Klux Klan was reborn by William J. Simmons, with the intentions of creating a world with only one race. Simmons’ inspiration came from the film, “Birth of a Nation”. The Ku Klux Klan became more hateful and violent than ever, creating a sense of fear among not only African-Americans, but Jews, Catholics, and immigrants too.
The goal of this investigation is to delve into the question of: to what extent was the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan during the 1920s a reflection of societal change? In order to assess this question from multiple perspectives on the topic, research is needed to further look into the Klan’s motives both prior to their revival as well as after. Events in the 1870s, when the Klan ended, as well as events in the 1920s, when the klan was reborn, will be considered in this investigation in order to make connections between the KKK and why their revival in the 1920s reflected societal change. Among these events include the end of Reconstruction, the Progressive Era, increase of immigration to the United States, as well as the “red scare” of communism.
Shawn Lay, from “ The Second Invisible Empire and Toward a New Historical Appraisal of the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s”, rejects the view of the KKK as a radical fringe group comprised of marginal men and instead characterizes the KKK of the 1920s as a
What if random people dressed up and scared all of your loved ones just because they didn’t like you, you what you believe in? What would you do? How would you feel? This is exactly what started on December 24th 1865 in Pulaski Tennessee. The Ku Klux Klan Impacted Civil Rights by discriminating against blacks, Jews, lesibians, gays, Cathlics and white republicans, for instance, in 1867 and onward, people of the South started an underground campaign of violence against all republican leaders, the Ku Klux Klan attacked all republican leaders, including whites, reasoning for attacking white republican leaders is because they hoped to restore the white supremacy in the South. The Ku Klux Klan mainly targeted schools, churches and institutions that African Americans attended. The Ku Klux Klan was feared by many African americans threw out the south. Many Jews also lived in fear for they might be the next target for the Ku Klux Klan.
Another disaster that resurface during the 1920’s was the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The KKK emerged when the United States was flooded with immigrants from all over the world. The Klan reformed in Georgia and spread across the country. “The new Klan, born in Stone Mountain, Georgia, in 1915, patterned itself on the secret rituals and anti-black hostility of its predecessor and, until 1920, it was limited to a few local chapters in Georgia and Alabama.” (p.611 ph.
Although not all went to the extremes of the KKK using terror, beating, and even murder to fulfill their quest in purifying America, they however they did support it’s ideology in many rural America. It has been estimated that, between the years 1920-27, the hands of the Klan members in the Southern states butchered 416 Blacks. Research indicates that most of the victims were innocent or were convicted of small offenses that certainly didn’t deserve such punishment. In the southern states, where the majority of the African American population resided, the notion of ‘white supremacy’ went unquestioned. Scarily enough, the KKK reached their hands into politics as well. In the state o f Indiana, the ‘Grand Wizard’, David Stephenson was politically powerful. It was also alleged that the Klan helped elect the governor of Maine, Colorado, and Louisiana in 1924. Moreover, on August 18th 1925 the Ku Klux Klan was able to parade down 40,000 men on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C without any intervention from state officials. Segregated facilities in government buildings remained unchanged since the first decade of the century, which showed the American government during the twenties was continually ignoring issues linked to ethnic minorities and the hostile attitudes of its people towards them. The act of
Hooded Americanism: The First Century of the Ku Klux Klan: 1865 to the Present by David Chalmers records the history of the Ku Klux Klan quite bluntly, all the way from its creation following the civil war, to the early 1960’s. The author starts the book quite strongly by discussing in detail many acts of violence and displays of hatred throughout the United States. He makes a point to show that the Klan rode robustly throughout all of the country, not just in the southern states. The first several chapters of the book focus on the Klan’s creation in 1865. He goes on to discuss the attitude of many Americans following the United State’s Civil War and how the war shaped a new nation. The bulk of the book is used to go through many of
Ku Klux Klan in the 1930s The 1930s were filled with suffering and sorrow. Due to the suffering, people reacted aggressively towards one another. Racial discrimination fueled the fire during this time. The Ku Klux Klan’s purpose was to pursue their white supremacist agenda, by creating heartbreak as they changed in the 1930s, with their violent acts, and have caused pain and agony to many diverse groups. How the KKK shifted in the 1930s?
The KKK, share cropping, riots, and societal expectations led to escalated racism violence in the 1920’s. The KKK, a popular anti-African American group, had a huge influence on the country with over four million members (Wright 6). The KKK intimidated the black population “with fiery crosses, tar and feathers, and other means [lynchings]. . .” (Kyvig 164) to warn them to not pursue their rights to vote. Another method used by the KKK was rape and torture during ‘kluxing’ raids (Blee 13).
“The first incarnation of the KKK formed just after the Civil War, using terrorist violence as a means of maintaining white supremacy, but its influence "waxed and waned," as Gordon puts it, over the decades that followed” (Waxman 2). The Ku Klux Klan, aka KKK, is a white supremacist group who has done many cruel things to African Americans. Throughout many years, the KKK has grown power over politics, the news, and television as ways to try and exterminate African Americans. The KKK is a group that think the white people have the power over the African Americans, and that African Americans should not be treated as fair. Overall, the Ku Klux Klan impacted society through violence, white supremacy, and the nationwide attention the group was
The Klan’s tactics of scaring the unclean were cruel, unusual and never, by any means, justifiable. The Klan “peaked at four to five million members” during the Twenties (Alchin). The Klan’s tactics could be somewhat simple such as “In 1924, about one hundred and fifty men and women dressed in complete Klan regalia held a day long rally at the Twin Falls city fair grounds. Other times their tactics were more violent. One Year after the rally “Twin Falls only black resident received a threat from the Klan (Matthews).”
Topic: In 1866, the Ku Klux Klan was founded by many former confederate veterans in retaliation to their current Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies aimed at establishing political and economic equality for blacks. The Reconstruction era sparked by President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation clearly defined that the days of white superiority were in dissolution. Through a willful ignorance and an insecurity of what might postlude the civil rights movement, the KKK rose, using terror in pursuit of their white supremacist agenda. Nathan Bedford Forrest, a former Lieutenant general in the Civil war, became the KKK's first Grand Wizard. Now with a steady leader the klan became a persistent political party aimed at dismantling the increasingly
Are you familiar with the group of people that wore long white sheets, tall white hats, and masks? The Ku Klux Klan led to multiple series of events which led to people being tortured. The group was approximately founded in 1866 and had its ups and downs throughout history. The group had its revival in the early 1900s. The Klan during its revival was known as the “New Klan.”
Supreme Justice Thurgood Marshall once stated that “the Ku Klux Klan never dies. They just stop wearing sheets because sheets cost too much” (Biography Staff, 2017). With the birth of America in 1776 and the Klan emerging in 1866, the not-so-invisible empire has claimed a place in America’s history. During the centuries, three summits have risen and declined, each wave becoming more open about their appearance than the last, proving to a point, that Thurgood Marshall’s quote is correct. The Ku Klux Klan, also known as the ‘KKK’ or the ‘Klan’, is a native-born hate group and according to the FBI’s definition of domestic terrorism, stating “the unlawful use, or threatened use, of force or violence…within the United
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.