The Ku Klux Klan first began during the Reconstruction Period
(1865-1877), where the federal government took charge to rebuild
the South after the Civil War (1861-1865). It was a secret society
that consisted of mainly members of the old planter class and
ex-confederate soldiers. Their goal was to maintain white supremacy
and control elections. They aimed to keep African Americans powerless.
They attacked blacks who owned land, blacks who "prospered", teachers
of black children, and other freed men because they were able
to read and write. They used whippings and lynching.
Because of lgeal, financial, and political problems, their activities
served for the democratic party and they attacked Republicans.
They killed hundreds of African Americans in the South. In countries
were the Klan was, Republicans stayed away from the polls. In
1944, the Final Disbandment was made.
The Klansmen wore white robes and their faces hidden by masks.
They muffled their horses hooves and covered them with white sheets.
They posed as the ghosts of ex-confederate soldiers, back from
the dead and for revenge. By the 1870s, the Klan declined and
was destroyed because of white Republicans who organized to break
up the Klan. And then they had the congressional legislator restrict
them.
The Ku Klux Klan arose again later in 1915 under William J. Simmons.
This second Klan had a wider program and added to "white supremacy",
than the first. They were anti-Catholicism and also anti-Semitic.
Unlike the first Klan, the second was less violent. They focused
on marches, voted for Klan political leaders, and attended rallies
where crosses were burned. Its peak was at the mid-1920s, having
more than 3 million members. Many follwers of different whites
and classes joined but, they came from mainly the middle and lower
classes. Then the Klan began to decline fast. Its fall was mainly
due to laws prohibiting the secrecy.K
After WWII, there were several attempts to revive the Klan but
they failed. The Klan emerged again at the time of the Civil
Rights Movement, looping to crush it, but they only powered
the movement. Robert Shelton led the white knights of Mississippi.
These new groups attacked blacks and civil rights workers. But
these attacks would limit the freedom of the Klan and such was
the case of Bobby Person vs. Carolina Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan.
Today the Ku Klux Klan still exists and holds power. They are
responsible for many attacks and killings of blacks, immigrants,
Jews, and Catholics.
