"KKK" The Ku Klux Klan. The origin of the Klan and what they pursued

Essay by Steve6College, Undergraduate January 1997

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'Ku Klux Klan' The Ku Klux Klan, or KKK as known today, was started in the spring of 1866.

Six Confederate veterans formed a social club in Pulaski, Tennessee. This KKK only lasted a

short six years, but left tactics and rituals that later started in generations. (Ingalls, 9) The Klan

was a small group very much in secrecy at first. The exact date of the beginning is unknown.

Despite all of the secrecy the six KKK members initiated new members to join their social club.

(Ingalls, 9) A year after the creation of the KKK, the onetime social club joined the raising

campaign against the Republican Reconstruction. The 'new' direction of the Klan was well

planned and organized. The Klan was now ready to expand to a bigger group. The Klan adopted

a prescript. This was an organizational structure permitting the Klan to spread across the south.

New members had to be over 18, pay $1, sworn to secrecy, recruits pledged to 'protect the

weak, the innocent, and the defenseless, from the indignities, wrongs, and outrages of the lawless,

the violent, and the brutal.'

The highly centralized plan for expanding the KKK, spread so rapidly

that most chapters operated alone. The founders of the KKK lost control, and it became

impossible to talk about a single KKK. Yet Klan activities still followed a common pattern

throughout the south. (Ingalls 11-12) The Klan now started to spread across Tennessee. At first

the Klan used tricks to keep blacks 'in their place'. At first, the Klan would ride around on

horses, and with their white robes, and white pointed masks, try to scare blacks. They would try

to act like ghost with their white uniforms. Unfortunately, the Klan quickly moved to more violent

pranks. (Ingalls, 12) The Klan would now suppress...