Ku Klux Klan is a group of people who come together under the banner of racial segregation and the belief in the superiority of the “white man”. The Klan was founded as a social club in Pulaski , Tennessee , in 1866, by six university students, initially a fraternity in which its founders dedicated themselves to playing pranks with night rides in white and wearing hoods so that they would not be recognized. From this, the group gained recognition for the terror it caused to the black population of the time, starting to attract new members that arrived in large numbers, which culminated in a great expansion of the group by the territories to the south of the United States.
The first elected leader of the group was General Nathan Bedford Forrest , who then headed a large hierarchical scale carrying the title of “Great Wizard” (Grand Wizard), having dominion over the other members of the organization, which was divided into a large number of “Kingdoms”, “domains” and “provinces”, which in turn were commanded by other leaders who had titles of “Great Dragon”, “Titans”, “Giants” and “Cyclopes”.
The historical context in which the Klan was formed and grew up was the post-civil war period , the United States’ Civil War , which ended in the victory of the territories of the northern states of the country over the southern states. The reconstruction policies that brought about the implementation of abolitionist laws, giving freedom to the slaves, also brought revolt to the southern confederates who had slave labor as their main labor force in agrarian production. The abolitionist laws brought great economic damage to the slave owners, since slaves were one of the most valuable commodities at the time.
Former slaves were the main targets of the attacks that the Ku Klux Klan carried out, but they also extended to people from the northern states, such as judges, teachers and politicians. In 1867, the Klan spread to all small towns in the south, without, however, establishing itself in urban areas, perhaps due to the fact that the economic crisis caused by the abolitionist movements was more felt in rural areas.
Meeting of members of the Ku Klux Klan. The hood and the burning cross are characteristic
Don’t stop now … There’s more after the publicity;)
However, from 1869 onwards, the Klan’s violent reputation began to alienate members of high esteem and political power, giving way to ordinary criminals and people of lesser political power. The fact caused internal disputes to divide the group, which lost its strength. In view of this, Forrest decided to end the organization, and this was the first downfall of the Ku Klux Klan, although small factions continued to exist.
It was only in 1915 that the Klan resurfaced with the efforts of William J. Simmons inspired by the film “Birth of a Nation” by David Llewelyn Wark Griffith, which told the story of Reconstruction in the abolitionist period from the perspective of a Klan member. Again, the historical context of the time served as a determining factor for the organization’s resurgence.
The large flow of immigrants arriving in the United States, many of them Jews or Catholics, was seen as justification for the great economic hardship that the country was going through. With the beginning of the First World War, the Klan started to build the image of the country’s defenders against the “foreign threat”, as well as against Jews, blacks and Catholics.
In 1924, the Klan was a social and political force recognized and accepted in the highest ranks of the country, even attracting politicians of great renown to integrate its organization. However, the escalation of violent acts that involved sanding and the terror to which they were associated, ended up weakening the Klan’s image once again. Along with the scandals involving the group’s leadership and the 1929 crisis, the Ku Klux Klan fragmented once more and lost the relevance it had achieved.
Since then, the Klan has never been able to reorganize and unify again. The group was divided into factions with different leaderships, with only a few exceptions of unification in a national organization.
We can conclude that the history of the Ku Klux Klan is the history of ignorance, fear, xenophobia and racism. This trait still survives strongly in our society today. Such demonstrations serve as a warning for the potential damage of ignorance when naturalized.