Ku Klux Klan In The 1920s

Questions: 1. How did the Ku Klux Klan form? The Klu Klux Klan formed as a result of the Red Scare and anti-immigrant

“ On the 29th of October 1869, [the Klansmen] broke my door open, took me to the woods and whipped me three hours or more and left me for dead.” “ About two days before they whipped me they offered me $5,000 to go with them and said they would pay me $2,500 in cash if I would let another man go to the legislature in my place.”. The KKK tried to silence a former slave who ended up becoming a Georgia State Legislature to drain the support of Reconstruction policies and to attack the empowerment of the African-American community he represented. As political violence was still a thing in the South the North started to become weary of fighting for equal rights.

”We have but one flag, one country; let us stand together. We may differ in color, but not in sentiment.” -Nathan Bedford Forrest said in July 1875 during his speech to the black southerners of the Independent Order of Pole-Bearers Association. This was his last public appearance before his death and was considered a “friendly speech. This turned out to be one of the more controversial quotes Nathan Bedford Forrest ever stated.

KKK was a white supremacist organization. That believe that all Non Caucasian people do not belong in the United States . It was not long before the KKK did acts like Bombing , Rape and Lynching. To protest The civil rights of African Americans.

The KKK was a white nationalized group that included former veterans, which created the first branch of the group. The Klansmen founded in 1865, in Pulaski, Tennessee, is now known as the birthplace of the KKK. This group dedicated themselves to a campaign of violence to Republican leaders and voters. The KKK targeted many people based on their race or sexuality , including, Gays, Immigrants, African Americans, and Catholics(KKK history). Jim Crow laws,

F. Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan, also known as the KKK was founded by Confederate veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1866 (“Ku Klux Klan.”). The KKK dedicated themselves to violence against almost any person who taught he didn’t believe in white supremacy or was just black (“Ku Klux Klan.”). A famous attack by the KKK was in South Carolina on January 1871 “500 masked men attacked the Union County jail and lynched eight black prisoners.”

(Mcveigh 1464). The Ku Klux Klan induced terror on those they targeted after they were deemed un-American, for not being christian, and migrating from outside of the United States. "The son of an officer in the original Klan, he had always dreamed of reviving the order, which he envisioned as the ultimate fraternal lodge” (Mcveigh 1466). After the fall of the first Ku Klux Klan in 1870, the Ku Klux Klan began its resurgence in 1915, then rapidly gained support until they reached their peak in 1920. In the early 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan saw a resurgence due to increased racism and xenophobia, which resulted in their increased racial violence, as well as political and economic influence in the United States.

In the mid-1920s, the Ku Klux Klan faced an influx of members as they began to target new enemies. The Klan not only attacked American blacks, but now targeted Jews, Catholics, and left-wing radicals. The membership reached its highest point since the end of Reconstruction, peaking at more than four million members. The statement, “the resurgence of the clan was merely the most extreme outgrowth of festering intolerance which permeated American society in the 1920s” is a valid statement due to New Immigration, religious tension, and a sense of racial intolerance in the North. The Ku Klux Klan is an example of xenophobia, racism, and religious intolerance.

The Ku Klux Klan, made up of former Confederate officers who idealized an antebellum Southern heritage, became folk heroes by terrorizing outsiders who challenged race relations by assisting blacks. Catholics, foreigners, former slaves, and their sympathizers were targeted for wanting to push reforms that went against the Southern way of life. As one historian points out, the KKK gained sympathy because they were seen as defenders and policemen of the people who protected the prevailing values of society, including Protestantism, whiteness, and genteel southern culture (Kinshasa 15). The KKK and its sister organizations were even sponsored by state governments, such as Kentucky and Mississippi, as a police force to maintain the status quo (Parsons 160). The presence of the Klan and other forms of white resistance offered white residents a form of security during this uncertain time period.

The early 1900s were a time of widespread social and political change in America. During this time, many Americans adopted new, more modern ideas about labor, cultural diversity and city life. Some of these Progressive ideas were brought about by the need for reform in the workplace due to the grown of large companies and rapid industrialization. Not everyone supported the ideas of the Progressive Movement, however. Anti-Progressives, especially in the South, preferred traditional, rural lifestyles, and a slower, simpler way of living.

The magnitude of the Klan helped the organization become publicly establishing a concrete line of racism in America. Because of the division in America many immigrants, and other social

It is true that anti-liquor crusaders and Victorian era social justice warriors had a bad time during the 1920s, but their shortcomings cannot nearly match those of African Americans or immigrants. The reawakening of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s attributed to harsh feelings to be sprinkled radically throughout the country. A lot of times, the black community was seen as a bunch of barbaric animals who all together were criminals. These feelings were deeply evident throughout the South. The participation of African Americans in the world of drink had a disproportionate likelihood of arrest and punishment.

The group had a word called kyklos which meant circle. The Ku Klux Klan held meeting with or local branches. Leading Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest was selected as the first leader, or grand wizard, of the Klan; he chaired over a chain of command of grand dragons, grand titans and grand cyclopses, who were Captain John C. Lester, Major James R. Crowe, John D. Kennedy, Calvin Jones, Richard R. Reed, Frank O. McCord. At its peak in the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan membership exceeded 4 million people nationwide. The basic beliefs of the Ku Klux Klan is ultimately white supremacy meaning that they would like whites to be in power and have it back like the old days.

The Ku Klux Klan first emerged in Pulaski, Tennessee following the Civil War. As we know today, the mere mention of the Klan triggers fear as the KKK is known for its various tactics of violence that came in the form if lynchings, murders, and mutilations. Following their emergence, the KKK were quickly symbolized and portrayed as the protectors of the South, following the defeat of the Southern states in the Civil War and the beginning of the period of Reconstruction by the federal government (Gurr, 1989, p. 132). During the 1920s, the KKK achieved its greatest political success and growth outside of the South. During this period, the membership of the Klan heavily expanded to the states of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Oregon, to which the KKK obtained two to two and one-half million members at its apex.

The Ku Klux Klan or KKK has created centuries of fear. They originated in Pulaski, Tennessee. The famous hate group was out to re establish white supremacy. The KKK has influenced local governments and people in power. It has also had an impact on American people and specifically black minorities.