KKK

Many KKK members would threaten people by burning a cross in their front yard.

The KKK was started by confederate veterans, and many of the Klan members were on the confederate side during the war.
This is an example of the uniform which the Klan members would wear. 

The KKK also promoted the Jim Crow Laws, and threatened or lynched anybody who disobeyed them.
This is the KKK symbol. They wore it on their uniforms, as you can see in picture #3.

     The first Ku Klux Klan was created in 1866 by six well-educated, middle class confederate veterans from Pulaski, Tennessee.  It was created to intimidate thieves, Native Americans, freed blacks, and anyone who tried to help these people.  It is said that some Negroes believed that its members, in their white uniforms, were confederate ghosts.

     The KKK supported white supremacy, anti-Semitism*, anti-Catholicism, racism, homophobia, anti-communism and nativism*.  The Klan quickly turned toward violence.  One of the most common forms of violence was lynching.  Lynching is when a gang of people get together and hang a person, generally from a tree.  The KKK began to decline in 1868 and was abolished in 1871 by the civil rights act.  Some people believe that the term "Ku Klux Klan" comes from the Greed work "Kyklos" combined with "clan".

     The Ku Klux Klan was re-created in 1915 due to a movie titled "Birth of a Nation".  In the movie, it depicts the KKK as glorious, brave and heroic.

     Another thing that spurred the re-creation of the Klan was the lynching of a Jewish man named Leo Frank.  Mr. Frank was accused of raping and murdering a young white girl named Mary Phagan.  He was sentenced to life in prison, but before he could be taken to the jail he was kidnapped.  His captors called themselves the Knights of Mary Phagan.  They lynched him, and that was the end of that.

     The new KKK was created in 1915.  Its founder was named William Joseph Simmons.  The new Klan grew much more quickly than the first.  At its peak, Klan membership exceeded four million people.  Because the Klan had so many more members, it also had much more influence.  It even somehow managed to torch a black school in Rhode Island.  Many, many people were killed.  The KKK would take weapons from the African Americans.  The Klan dissolved in 1944 because the government began to put the Klan members into prison for lynching and raids.

     Since then, there have been many smaller KKK groups.  In fact, there are several still going on today.  If you look up KKK on Google, the first site you find is for a modern day KKK.  some of the current groups are: Bayou Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Knights of the White Kamelia, Church of the American Knights of the KKK, Imperial Klans of the Ku Klux Klan, and Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

*Nativism:  Opposition to immigration and immigrants

*Anti-Semitism:  Hostility towards people of the Jewish religion

Kate Shober, Frank's design team