Klu Klux Klan

Essay by meatizmurderUniversity, Bachelor'sA, February 2005

download word file, 6 pages 5.0

Murders, acts of violence, arson, rape, shootings, and "severe and inhumaine beatings" all caused because of the belief of white supremecy all started in 1866. A social club called the Ku Klux Klan was formed in 1866 by six young Confederate war veterans in Tennessee. This soical club for white supremicists was distinguished by elaborate rituals, hooded costumes and secret passwords. The Klan name came from the Greek word kuklos, meaning circle, and the English word clan. The Ku Klux Klan were very influencial in the developing country and still continue to be influencial in the United States of America.

The Klan was formed for a number of reasons; at first it was just meant to be a social club for white supremacists then it escalated and the Klan existed because many southern white males felt that their vote no longer meant anything because the black voters out numbered them.

Many ex-members of the Confederate amry joined the Klan because they were angered that so many southerners died for what now seems to be nothing. The most central reason of the majority of Klansmen was just a pure hatred for the black race within the United States. Vigilantism and hatred of minorities united many southern whites of differnt social classes.

The Ku Klux Klan started spreading to many of the southern states right after the civil war during Reconstruction. Many of the dens were made up of Confederate veterans, southern poloticians and in general white supremicists. The Klan hated the idea of blacks gaining any rights following the Civil War into the Reconstruction, and terrorized blacks to prevent them from voting in elections or practicing any other right. Blacks and white sympathizers were often threatened, beaten, or even murdered by Klan members in the South; the Klan used white...