The Ku
Klux Klan
Birth of the Klan
• In 1866, Six exConfederate soldiers
created a secret boys’ club.
• They named their club the
Ku Klux - derived from the
Greek word for circle.
• Similar to a typical male
fraternity, the men
designed the club around
secret rituals, words, and
playful mischief.
The KKK in Historical Context

Before the war …
 the majority of
Southerners = white
yeoman farmers.
 Slaveholders lived in fear
of slave rebellion

After the War …
 4 million former slaves
were newly
enfranchised by 15th
Amendment.
 Congress passed the 1st
Reconstruction Act
(1867) which, in part
Protected the freed
slaves.
Birth of the National KKK
 By
1867, fraternal
Klansmen from various
southern Klans met in
Nashville,
Tennessee "To
reorganize the Klan on a
plan corresponding to its
size and present
purposes; to bind the
isolated Dens together;
to secure unity of
purpose and concert of
action.”
 The
National KKK was
born.
Present Purposes of the KKK

The "present purposes" of those who gathered to reorganize the
KKK were to make it "an institution of Chivalry, Humanity, Mercy,
and Patriotism; embodying in its genius and its principles all that
is chivalric in conduct, noble in sentiment, generous in manhood,
and patriotic in purpose." Its goals were:
“To protect the weak, the innocent, and the defenceless, from
the indignities, wrongs, and outrages of the lawless, the violent,
and the brutal; to relieve the injured and oppressed; to succor
the suffering and unfortunate, and especially the widows and
orphans of Confederate soldiers; to protect and defend the
Constitution of the United States, and all laws passed in
conformity thereto, and to protect the States and the people
thereof from all invasion from any source whatever; to aid and
assist in the execution of all constitutional laws, and to protect
the people from unlawful seizure, and from trial except by their
peers in conformity to the laws of the land.”
How did the KKK interpret their “present
purposes?”
 "the
injured and oppressed" were southern whites who
were condemned to suffer in the crazy new world where
blacks could vote and have an equal say in society.
•
"the violent and the brutal" were the officials who
enforced black civil rights.
•
"constitutional" laws were the Black Codes relegating
every aspect of the freedmen and freedwomen’s lives.
•
"unlawful seizure" meant any "radical" activity that
raised taxes to support public schools to the arrest try
KKK members.
 The
KKK’s ultimate goal was "home rule" by whites, for
whites within a states' rights context.
Klan Hierarchy
The National Klan was
organized into realms,
dominions, provinces,
and dens, and each
was headed by a
separately designated
leader.
Each Klan unit was
responsible for its own
affairs and decided its
own degree of
militancy.
The National KKK
 Former
Confederate
General, Nathan Bedford
Forrest became Grand
Wizard and he
purposefully developed
the Klan into an exclusive
and secretive
brotherhood of upper
class white men.
 KKK membership soon
exploded in the south.
Reasons for KKK membership
 In
1870, Congress passed the KKK Act which made it a
federal crime to prevent the freedmen from voting.
 Between
1870-1871, Congress passed the Enforcement
Acts which made it a federal crime to prevent freedmen
from voting or holding office and imposed heavy
penalties on persons who "shall conspire together, or go
in disguise for the purpose of depriving any person or
any class of persons equal protection of the laws.”
 In
1875, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act which
prohibited racial discrimination in all forms of public
transportation and accommodations.
 These
acts encouraged many southerners - especially
those who were poor and feared the rising influence of
the freed slaves - to join the KKK. Consequently,
Forrest’s ability to control the organization decreased.
The consequence of increased membership and
less control from the National KKK –
Klan Terror
 The
Klan used extremely
violent measures to
terrorize blacks, carpetbaggers, scalawags, and
anyone else who
contributed to the
degradation of old
southern ideals.
 Assault
 Rape
 Arson
 Murder
Decline of the First Klan
 The
Federal government started
enforcing the anti-Klan legislation.
 As
membership numbers climbed, the
national KKK discovered that
maintaining control over Klan
activities became impractical.
 As
Reconstruction came to an end,
white southerners regained the legal
political influence that had been
taken from them.
 In
January of 1869 Imperial Wizard
Forrest ordered the dissolution of the
order and the burning of all its
records.
 By
1872, southern white rule had
been reestablished and KKK
lawlessness was no longer necessary.
Federal actions denying rights to freed slaves
 In
1883, the US Supreme Court declared the Civil
Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional on the grounds
that the 14th and 15th Amendments only applied to
states, not individuals.
 In
1885, Congress repealed the Enforcement Acts.
 In
1888, the Williams v. Mississippi U.S. Supreme
Court case held that state constitutions did not
discriminate against blacks when they were
disenfranchised by means of property or literacy
qualifications, poll taxes, or "grandfather clauses.”
 In
1896, the Plessy v. Ferguson U.S. Supreme Court
case held that because "legislation is powerless to
eradicate racial instincts," Southern segregation
laws were constitutional, as long as the separate
public facilities for blacks were equal to those of
whites.
The Rise of the Second Klan
 On
Thanksgiving night,
1915, William Joseph
Simmons and sixteen
followers marched up
Stone Mountain outside of
Atlanta, GA. to "bathe in
the sacred glow of the fiery
cross." Soon thereafter,
Simmons had devised a
series of rules, rituals,
words, and codes for
would-be members of a
new KKK.
 Simmons
supposedly had an
epiphany in 1901 while he
looked at the clouds in the sky.
He believed that God had given
him a sign to reorganize the
Klan.
 It
took him until 1915 to
prepare properly for the Klan
rebirth.
 The
second Klan played on
Nativist fears prominent at the
time – fear of blacks,
immigrants, Catholics, Jews.
 The
KKK spread quickly out of
the South and into the Midwest
and Northeast to counter the
post-WWI mass migration of
African Americans.
Rules, Rituals, Words, and Codes of the Second KKK
– the Koran

The Kloran provides a series of questions, as well as rules and rituals, for
prospective Klan members.

1. Is the motive prompting your ambition to be a Klansman serious and
unselfish?
2. Are you a native born, white, gentile American?
3. Are you absolutely opposed to and free of any allegiance of any nature to
any cause, government, people, sect, or ruler that is foreign to the USA?
4. Do you believe in the tenents of the Christian religion?
5. Do you esteem the United States of America and its institutions above all
other government, civil, political, or ecclesiastical, in the whole world?
6. Will you, without mental reservation, take a solemn oath to defend,
preserve, and enforce same?
7. Do you believe in clannishness, and will you faithfully practice same
toward Klansmen?
8. Do you believe in and will you faithfully strive for the eternal maintenance
of white supremacy?
9. Will you faithfully obey our constitution and laws, and conform willingly to
all our usages, requirements, and regulations?
10. Can you always be depended on?
Local dens or Klans were governed by:
 Exalted
Cyclops - president
Klaliff - vice-president
Klokard - lecturer
Kludd - chaplain
Kilgrapp - secretary
Klabee - treasurer
Klagaro - conductor
Klexter - inner guard
Klokann - investigating committee
Nighthawk - proctor in charge of
candidates
 Klansmen
sang klodes, held klonvocations,
swore blood oaths, lived by the events of its
secret Kalendar, and carried on
klonversations using code words:
 Ayak
- Are you a Klansman?
 Akia - A Klansman I am.
 Kigy Klansman - I greet you.
 Itub - In the sacred, unfailing bond.
 Clasp Clannish - loyalty and sacred
principle.
 Sanborg - Strangers are near, be on guard!
Membership
 Edward
Clark and Elizabeth Tyler organized the
sale of memberships on a businesslike basis.
 Simmons,
as Imperial Wizard, received a
$170,000 salary.
 The
invention of the WKKK (women’s KKK)
encouraged the growth of chapters in 36 states.
 By
1923, the KKK treasury brought in $45,000 a
day in membership dues.
 By
1925, an estimated 5 million Americans had
joined the KKK or WKKK.
Klan Power & Influence
 To
illustrate the Klan’s
power, the national
organization
sponsored a parade,
August 8, 1925.
 40,000
uniformed
Klansmen &
Klanswomen paraded
in the nation’s capitol
down Pennsylvania
Ave.
Klanswoman in Indiana - 1920s - When asked why she
joined, she responded:
“Why not? It seemed a fun thing to do with our
friends. The next meeting we were told to be ready and
wear uniforms when called upon. The uniforms were white
robes, tall peaked hoods with eye holes, so no one could be
recognized. What a thrill when we were told to assemble
at a certain place wearing our robes, then marching with
others also unknown to us. A huge cross, set up in the
village, flared up in the darkness, crowds had assembled to
watch. As the cross burned, we marched quietly down the
roadway. A hush fell upon the crowd. There seemed to
sense a force of something unknown. It created a fear, as if
like a child being told to be good or the bogey man will get
you.”
… Kathleen Blee, Women of the Klan (1991)
 The
WKKK worked as a compliment to the men’s group.
 Women
championed the crusades on vice and antiCatholic and anti-Jewish legislation.
 The
female perspective of the time period was used to
spread the KKK message into the home.
 Where
the KKK used violence against people, the WKKK
used it to strike fear into its members.
 The
WKKK spread tales of violence that the Catholic
Church used against Protestant girls.
 The
same argument that was used by women who fought
for suffrage was used by the KKK to spread its values into
the family atmosphere.
Vigilante Justice
No
national or state records exist that
discuss the extent of new Klan violence.
There
are scattered accounts to indicate
this era to have been the most racially
violent and intolerant.
There
already existed a history of
vigilante violence in the American West
so Klan violence was no big change.
End of the Second Klan
 Ultimately,
corruption claimed the
Second Klan.
 By
1928, the power of the national
Klan as well as many of the local
Klans had been lost.
 Greed
and the loss of control over
Klan activities spread and enveloped
the organization – the same problem
that killed the first Klan.
The Third Klan
A
symbolic cross
burning in 1945
initiated a rebirth of
southern Klans.
 The
new Klan leaders
claimed that there was
a “new assertiveness
on the part of the
Negro race.”
A
national level of the
KKK organization was,
again, short-lived.
 KKK
members sought to
destroy un-American
subversive groups like
communists
 They
also sought to
destroy Jewish members
of FDR’s New Deal
administration
 Attacking
the government
turned into the Klan’s
fatal mistake
Another Klan’s Decline
 The
Klan began to be
portrayed as a terrorist
organization.
 The
federal government
planted informants amidst the
Klan, and journalists wrote
investigative stories.
 Ultimately,
the Klan was
shunned through many parts
of the nation.
 By
1950, due to considerable
negative attention, the Klan
abandoned the national effort.
A New Kind of Hate
 Although
the sun had set on the third Klan,
American racism had not diminished.
 Racists
felt the need to form a different
kind of group.
 As
a result, the White Citizens Councils
developed.
White Citizens Councils (WCC)
"Blacks who tried to register to vote, who signed a petition for school
desegregation, who belonged to the NAACP, who spoke out for
equality received the treatment. Bankers would deny loans; black
merchants couldn’t get credit from wholesale houses or sometimes
could not get supplies even with cash; insurance policies were
canceled; employees were dismissed; renters were evicted from their
homes; mortgages were recalled. Blacks dependent on whites for
employment or credit were often forced to boycott black ministers or
doctors or craftsmen who were violating the racial etiquette in
Yazoo, Mississippi in the summer of 1955 ... 1,500 of the town’s
11,000 population belonged to the White Citizens Council. The
council ran an ad in the town paper listing the names of all the
petitioners [for school desegregation]. The list of names appeared in
the stores, in the bank, even in cotton fields around the city. White
community leaders would visit individuals and suggest that their
action was not proper for a ‘colored who wanted to live in peace.’ If
that didn’t work, it would be followed by visits to employers,
creditors, and landlords. It was not long before the original list of 53
signators to the petition had been reduced to 6 ... Similar treatment
was given to blacks who sought to register to vote."
… Jack Bloom, Class, Race, and the Civil Rights Movement, 1987
White Citizens Councils (WCC)
 The
first WCC arose in Indianola, Miss in 1954.
 Known
as “the rich man’s Klan.”
 Meetings
were held in public places.
 Despite
WCC success, it could not meet the
“needs” of the people.
 Yet
again, the Klan needed to arise to “save the
people.”
The New and Improved 4th Klan
 1961,
Robert Shelton
formed the United
Klans of America (UKA).
 The
national movement
lasted only about 5
years.
 Despite
poor success on
the national level, the
UKA revitalized state
and local klans.
Local Klans
 Concerned
with
“Mongrelization” – race
mixing that integration
would encourage.
 School
desegregation was
seen as the first step in
the mongrelization
process.
 The
KKK felt an obligation
to preserve “White
Christian Civilization”
It is during this period that Klan members
increasingly are seen as fanatics, rather than
upholders of Christianity, patriotism, and the
status quo. Thus, the fourth Klan fades away.
The Modern Klan
 1975-
David Duke started a new
campaign to start yet another
Klan.
 He
tried to appeal to a different
group than in past Klans.
 In
the 1970s, Klan members were
typically high school graduates,
some had college education, and
had stable blue collar employment
or worked in service occupations.
 New
Klans were less secretive and
more willing to be seen as proud
racists upholding the status quo.
The Modern Klan
 1975-
David Duke started a new
campaign to start yet another
Klan.
 He
tried to appeal to a different
group than in past Klans.
 Today,
Klan members are typically
high school graduates, some have
college education, and most have
stable blue collar employment or
worked in service occupations.
 New
Klans are less secretive and
more willing to be seen as proud
racists upholding the status quo.
The Legacy of the Klan
1. The rise of formally organized, national and statewide
Ku Klux Klans has always been brief. The first period
lasted from 1866 to 1870; followed by the period of
greatest involvement from 1919 to 1926; and continuing
with the most recent period from 1975 to the present.
2. The real power of the KKK has been at the local
level. Local KKKís, often working with spontaneous
lynch mobs, have been responsible for almost all Klan
related violence over the past 140 years.
3. The rise of the five generations of revitalized klans is
directly related to two larger issues:
 the perceived threat to white supremacy based upon
larger domestic and/or international incidents; and
 the continual tension between federal and states'
rights advocates.
The Legacy of the Klan (continued)
4. The KKK's most powerful legacy has been its success. Local klans
operating in their first 100 years successfully helped to maintain
the political, social, and economic status quo of whites in every
region of the nation. 5. The Klan's successful brand of terrorism
has always relied upon two things:
 toleration and support of local communities and the KKK
reputation as being the "most American" of American
organizations; and
 philosophical and political flexibility and a willingness to adopt
the militant stance and hate- and fear-filled rhetoric of the era.
5. Only when community toleration and support disappeared did
the Klan become unwelcome in many American communities as
well as prosecuted by federal, state, and local agencies.
6. The melding of modern Klan with various other right-wing hate
groups has given it new strength as it continues to keep many
local non-white, non-Protestant, and immigrant populations in a
perpetual state of fear and terror.