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Who Are the Ku Klux Klan?
Established in 1866, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is the oldest organized terrorist group in the United States. Formed in the aftermath of the Civil War the Klan worked to maintain white supremacy through extreme violence. The “second” Klan of the 1920s targeted immigrants, Jews, Catholics, and Communists – as well as blacks, reaching a peak membership of around 4 million people. Klan activity spiked during the Civil Rights Era and in the 1970s sought to rebrand itself, as Klan robes were swapped for suits and ties.
Forced into competition with other white supremacist organizations, the contemporary Klan’s influence has diminished. It nonetheless retains a presence within the broader constellation of the American far right.
Civil War by Other Means
Emancipation of Negroes, The Past and the Future by Thomas Nast, 1863. Source: PBS
Despite suffering military defeat, the Civil War (1861-65) in the South never entirely ceased. The emancipation of nearly four million slaves left the plantation owners impoverished, with no other method to earn a living except for the exploitation of black labor on their land.
With poor whites determined to avoid black competition for land and jobs, a fierce struggle ensued. United by the ‘shibboleth of race’ the planters and poor whites turned their wrath against the Federal government towards black people (Du Bois, 1935).
Armed bands of white men roamed the countryside aggressively targeting black people, and driving former slaves back onto the plantations. By the late 1860s, sporadic attacks had become organized and endemic.
White gangs met in secret and conspired to murder, lynch, and mutilate blacks. They burned churches, schoolhouses, and property without mercy. The extreme terror and lawlessness that raged across the South was epitomized above all by the armed guerilla warfare of the Ku Klux Klan.
The First Iteration of the Klan
Two Ku Klux Klan members in their disguises, image printed in Harpers Weekly, 1868, Source: Missouri Historical Society
The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) emerged as a secret society of disgruntled Confederate veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee in 1866. Inspired by the late-19th century vogue for secret fraternities with their rituals, rights, and initiations – their name is thought to have been inspired by the Greek word “kuklos” meaning circle.
The Klan wasn’t initially formed as a racist political organization. However, shortly after it formed, the Federal government passed the Reconstruction Acts (1867-68). In response, the Klan turned to the specific aim of enforcing white supremacy in the South.
By 1870, the KKK had extended to the majority of Southern states, in large part due to the efforts of the first Grand Wizard of the KKK, former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forest.
The violence of the Klan was so extreme and widespread that in 1871 President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Enforcement Act (known as the KKK Act) into law to suppress Klan activity and restore a semblance of order to the South.
Revival of the KKK
Revival: Ku Klux Klan rally, location unknown, 1922, Source: Wikimedia Commons
The second iteration of the Klan was organized by white protestant, predominantly lower middle-class Americans residing in the South and Midwest. Inspired by the vehemently racist Hollywood blockbuster Birth of a Nation (originally called The Clansmen), the KKK was officially revived by Spanish war veteran turned preacher, William J. Symmonds on 25th November 1915.
The reemergence of the Klan blended historic white supremacism and hostility towards blacks with antisemitic, anti-catholic, anti-immigrant, and anti-communist sentiments. The practice of burning crosses (inspired by Birth of a Nation) was introduced, along with the adoption of standardized white robes and regalia – the sale of which was monopolized by the Klan.
Unlike its predecessor, the second Klan operated in the open rather than secretly. It charged $10 to join and by the mid-1920s, boasted around 4 million members, wielded power over elections, featured prominently in the media, and held large public rallies. Despite these differences, the KKK retained its commitment to terroristic acts of extreme violence, lynching, and intimidation against its perceived enemies.
The Civil Rights Era Klan
Klan burning of a Freedom Riders Bus, Anniston, Alabama, 1961, Source: Wikimedia Commons
By the 1930s, the second iteration of the Klan had fractured and membership dwindled from 4 million in 1925 to no more than a few hundred thousand. The decline in numbers persisted as the Great Depression took hold.
However, the rise of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s set the stage for a resurgence. Sporadic Klan killings and intimidation never completely died down after the fall of the second Klan, but intensified in response to black demands for equality and an end to segregation in the South.
The Klan unleashed a veritable reign of terror against individuals associated with the Civil Rights movement. In 1956, Klansmen bombed the house of Martin Luther King Jr; in 1961, they burned a Freedom Riders bus in Alabama. Among their most heinous acts was the bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, which tragically claimed the lives of four young girls.
The “New” Ku Klux Klan
Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke in the mid-1970s, Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1975, the Lousianna-based Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (KKKK) were formally incorporated by Grand Dragon David Duke (1950-present). Duke’s vision was to transform the Klan into a polished, professional “white civil rights” organization, distancing it from the overt violence of the past.
His strategy was to present the views of the KKKK as common sense to “ordinary” (i.e. white) Americans. Under Duke, Klan robes were shunned for suits and ties, and the peddling of media-savvy antisemitic conspiracies superseded cross-burning mobs. The changes were nonetheless cosmetic: the racism, bigotry, and hate of the KKK remained in full flow.
Initially, the KKKK were relatively successful. By 1979, the group boasted 1,500 members and 10,000 non-member supporters. However, internal schisms – chiefly the egocentrism and corruption of Duke – eventually brought the Knights to their knees.
The group fractured in 1980. Duke, meanwhile, went on to serve in the Louisiana House of Representatives (1989-1992) and become “America’s best-known racist and antisemite.”
The KKK Today
Unite the Right, Charlottesville rally, 2017. The contemporary Klan is a small part of a broader constellation of far-right movements in the United States.
According to The Southern Poverty Law Center, “the Ku Klux Klan is strong when its leaders are able to capitalize on social tensions and the fears of white people.” The social tensions of Reconstruction, the political upheaval of the 1920s, and the black militancy of the Civil Rights era all fit this pattern.
Today the Klan continues to decline in influence. While various Klan groups still exist, the biggest being the Loyal White Knights, there appears to be growing sentiment among white supremacist circles that the Klan is outdated.
Existing Klan groups now have to compete with other white supremacist movements for recruits, from “Alt-right” and Neo-Nazi groups to “White Power” militia. Klan presence is often noted at far-right rallies but own events are typically poorly attended. In some cases, Klan groups exist in alliance with Neo-Nazi factions of the Aryan Nations. Despite its evident decline, some 160 years since it first appeared, the Ku Klux Klan shows little sign of disappearing entirely.
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