A Brief History of the Ku Klux Klan

"Ku Klux Klan

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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."

English: William Joseph Simmons, founder of the se...

Ku Klux Klan members and a burning cross, Denver, ...

Cartoon from 1868 ("'Tis but a change of banners -...

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...