Ku Klux
Klan
Putter Angert
Alex Oldt
Starting the Klan
 The first branch was started in Pulaski,
Tennessee, in May of 1865.
 There were 6 ex-Confederate War Veterans.
 Nathan Bedford Forrest was the first Klan
leader. He was a confederate general.
 They started the KKK because of their loss in
the civil war.
 They thought they could still win the war by
committing acts of terrorism primarily against
African Americans.
Their Ideas and
Philosophies
 They wanted to ruin African American
education, and take away the few rights that
colored people actually had.
 They wanted to take away their right to bear
arms and their voting rights.
 They also wanted to end their economic power.
 Their philosophy was to have white supremacy.
Actions
 The KKK used intimidation as a threat.
 They mainly targeted African Americans,
but soon they killed white republicans as
well.
 They bombed churches and schools,
murdered and raped people, and also
targeted operatives of Freedman’s
Bureau.
The Crash of the Klan
 The disorganization of the First Klan is what led to its
downfall.
 In 1869 an end to the Klan was ordered by their first
leader, Nathan Bedford Forrest.
 He said the Klan was getting away from their original
reasoning and philosophies.
 On Easter Sunday, in 1873, one of the worst attacks on
African Americans in the United States occurred. It
was known as the Colfax Massacre.
 This resulted in the death of 280 African Americans.
 This happened just before the first Klan disbanded and
was no more.
A Second Klan
 It started in 1915.
 It was started due to the production of
“The Birth of a Nation.”
 This film praised the first Klan and
inspired people to start the KKK again.
 William Joseph Simmons began this
group of Klansmen.
 He was a Methodist preacher.
About the New Klan
 They were now not only against African Americans but
also Jews, Catholics, communists, and immigrants.
 This Klan was very influential to the U.S. unlike the first
group.
 The Black Legion became a faction of the KKK.
 They wore black robes instead of white.
 They were more violent than the other KKK members.
 Lynching was very popular to the second Klan, not just
the Black Legion.
KKK Being Political
 The KKK had control of Tennessee, Indiana,
Oklahoma and Oregon, plus some southern
legislatures.
 They also secretly took over Anaheim, but then
were voted out.
 In the 1924 Democratic National Convention,
Klansmen faced New York Governor Al Smith.
 They ended up simply compromising with each
other.
End of the Second Klan
 The second Klan ended either because of the
backlash against them or because a Klansmen
got convicted of rape and murder.
 This proved that the government would stand
up to these people and that they weren't
scared of them anymore.
 The KKK was taken down by the law
eventually, and sheriffs began busting these
criminals and punishing them.
Southern Poverty Law
Center
 They are a group that helps out those in need
of help from discrimination and unfair
treatment.
 It was started by Morris Dees and Joe Levin,
two lawyers who wanted to help stop groups
like the KKK.
 SPLC started in Montgomery, Alabama.
 SPLC wasn’t scared of the KKK, they legally
went after them and enforced the ideals of the
Constitution.
th
14

Amendment
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction
thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall
make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due
process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their
respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians
not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and
Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial
officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male
inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or
in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of
representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male
citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President
and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any
State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the
United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of
any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection
or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress
may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including
debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or
rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or
pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States,
or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and
claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions
of this article.
Summary of
th
14 Amendment
 Protects rights against state
infringements, defines citizenship,
prohibits states from interfering with
privileges and immunities, requires due
process and equal protection, punishes
states for denying vote, and disqualifies
Confederate officials and debts.
Works Cited
 http://www.iupui.edu/~aao/kkk.html
 http://www.pointsouth.com/csanet/kkk.htm
 http://www.mamkschools.org/hommocks/socialstudies/
8th_grade/kkk/main.htm
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kkk
 http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAkkk.htm
 http://www.assumption.edu/ahc/1920s/Eugenics/Klan.h
tml
 http://www.kkklan.com
 http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/kkk_and_racial_pr
oblems.htm
 http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-369485.html
Work Cited Continued
 http://civilwar.bluegrass.net/AftermathAndReconstructio
n/birthofthekkk.html
 http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/kkk.htm
 http://www.splcenter.org/center/about.jsp
 http://www.kukluxklan.bz/historic.html
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Poverty_Law_Ce
nter
 http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?g
rpid=6989s