The Ku Klux Klan was originally a social fraternity, organized by Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first Grand Wizard of the Empire, in 1867. The purpose of the KKK soon developed into a paramilitary force used to oppose the Republican governments set up in the old Confederate States and used to stop Freedmen (ex-slaves) from voting, attempting to register to vote, and from trying to hold elective offices in the southern states. When the KKK became too violent, Forrest ordered it disbanded, but the violent element in the KKK continued, until the government passed the Force Acts and the Klan was extinguished in 1872. In 1915, William Simmons founded the twentieth-century version of the KKK after viewing the film, Birth of a Nation, which glorified the history of the Klan. The new Klan was not only anti black, but anti Jewish, anti foreign, and anti-Catholic. The Klan actually became a respected part of the Democratic Party and reached its peak of political power in the 1920s, when membership may have been as high as 4.5 million, including many prominent business and political leaders. The Klan declined in power when the Grand Dragon, was found guilty of second degree murder in the death of a young women whom he had taken to Chicago with him. In an attempt to lessen his sentence, Grand Dragon David Stephenson turned over evidence to the government revealing the corruption of the Klan, the names of politicians the Klan had bribed, and other illegal activities of the organization. In the 1960s, the KKK briefly rose again to try and opposed the Civil Rights Movement. After numerous deaths and disappearance of civil rights workers in the South, and the burning of black churches, and the passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965, the Klan fell apart. Today, there are small splinter groups of the KKK but no one large national organization.
Everywhere. Mostly the South.
I'm assuming you meant "were," as in "Were the KKK succesful?"
I'd really like to give you an equally satirical response, but I'll just say this: The KKK have been effective in their intimidation and terrorist-like techniques since the close of the civil war. They had millions of members at their peak in the 1920's, and got a lot of media coverage during the civil rights movement (for obvious reasons). They are still active and are thought to have around 6,000 members.
So... sort of. They have definitely influenced the history of America, but their goal (or what they would define as "success") would be to eliminate all non-white people from authority positions (or possibly the earth). Anyone can be a klan member - my pastor (who, incidentally, is African-American) gets membership request letters from them regularly. They're definitely still around (even on the History channel this week), but have been reduced to little or no power, seeing as everything they stand for is illogical and/or stupid, and anything they'd like to do about it is illegal. I personally hope they fall to extinction in the next 10 years.
No, because the Ku Klux Klan wanted to eliminate and murder everyone who was not a white Protestant. There are still Jews, Catholics, Buddhists, Hindus, etc., along with Asians, African-Americans, and everyone else, aren't there?
The Ku Klux Klan was a successful terror group for many years. That was before law enforcement agencies had the knowledge to effectively track down the laws that Klansmen were violating. Their goal of terrorizing and murdering Blacks and white civil rights workers was their goal and for years they remained unpunished in the South.
This is now all over & done with. The Klan still exists as a white supremacist organization, however, they have been successfully marginalized and made to look foolish. The Klan's ideas have made unorganized hateful people realize that their ideas are antebellum ones, if they even know what antebellum means.
They were congressional legislation designed to destroy the KKK, which was successful.
They were congressional legislation designed to destroy the KKK, which was successful.
NO
Intimidation and violence told people what they wanted to hear
kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk kkk
No way they are just dead beat red necks that dont wanna see anybody get by.
kkk kkk kkk
There was no cardinal of the KKK.
what are the iniation in to the KKK in the 1940s
how does the kkk define americanism
Federal legislation banned the KKK.
The KKK is a secret organization. However, there were KKK groups in Pennsylvania is the 1920, largely because of its staunch support of National Prohibition.