Liceul Teoretic OVIDIUS Constanta

Ku Klux Klan

Advisor: Barbulescu AuroraStudent: Niculcea Vlad, XII-B

Constanta, 2014

Table of Contents1. How it all began(1865-1874) 1.1 Creation and naming 1.2 Activities 1.3 Decline and replacements by other groups2. Next chapter in the Klans life(1915-1944) 2.1 Refounding in 1915 2.2 Activities 2.3 The burning cross 2.4 Political role 2.5 Resistance and decline3. Later Klans(1950 through 1960s)4. Contemporary Klan 4.1 Present 4.2 References in popular cultures6. Vocabulary7. Conclusion8. Bibliography9. Appendix

Imagine living in a society in which friends, family and neighbors are murdered simply because of the color of their skin. What did they do wrong? They existed. This is the life of an African-American living in the southern United States throughout much of Americas history. The formation of the Ku Klux Klan was one of the major contributing factors to the long bloody struggle that was racism in America. The Klan is classified as a hate group, and throughout three summits in history forced blacks and other minorities to live in a fear that they did not deserve.I have chosen this topic because the Ku Klux Klan is one of Americas oldest and most feared groups and I have been intrigued by its use of violence and its moving above the law in support of its cause, motivated by the dream of a world with only one race. They have been in the shadows for over 130 years and continue to succeed in Americas society today which to me seems paradoxal.The Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1866 by a group of men including John D. Kennedy, Captain John C. Lester and Frank O. McCord, among others, in Pulaski, Tennessee. The name was derived from the Greek wordkylos, meaning circle. Klan was added for the purpose of alliteration (Ku Klux Klan). The infamous burning-cross icon became a symbol of the KKK in the 1920s, which was one of many tactics used for intimidation. Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of Klan members were the white robes they wore along with cone shaped hats that covered their faces. These costumes accomplished their goal of making them look more outlandish and terrifying, and for the intimidation of their victims (Smith). The Klan was pretty selective in accepting members, contrary to popular belief, only WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) could become members. These members possessed the ideology of white supremacy to all other races and ethnic divisions, similar to the concept of Neo-Nazism, however they claim to have based their beliefs on Christian values and nativism. It is often thought that the KKK only hated African-Americans, but many other groups acquired hatred from the Klan, such as Jews, Catholics (for a short time), homosexuals and various immigrant groups. (Anti-Defamination League).

1. How it all began 1.1 Creation and namingThe first Klan was founded in 1865 inPulaski, Tennessee, by six veterans of theConfederate Army.The name is probably derived from theGreekwordkuklos() which means circle, suggesting a circle or band of brothers. The group was known for a short time as the "Kuklux Clan". The Ku Klux Klan was one of a number of secret, oath-bound organizations using violence, which included the Southern Cross inNew Orleans(1865) and theKnights of the White Camelia(1867) inLouisiana. Historians generally see the KKK as part of the post Civil Warinsurgentviolence related not only to the high number of veterans in the population, but also to their effort to control the dramatically changed social situation by using extrajudicial means to restore white supremacy. In 1866,MississippiGovernorWilliam L. Sharkeyreported that disorder, lack of control and lawlessness were widespread; in some states armed bands of Confederate soldiers roamed at will. The Klan used public violence against blacks as intimidation. They burned houses, and attacked and killed blacks, leaving their bodies on the roads. At an 1867 meeting inNashville, Tennessee, Klan members gathered to try to create a hierarchical organization with local chapters eventually reporting up to a national headquarters. Since most of the Klan's members were veterans, they were used to the hierarchical structure of the organization, but the Klan never operated under this centralized structure. Local chapters and bands were highly independent.HistorianEric Fonerobserved: In effect, the Klan was a military force serving the interests of theDemocratic party, the planter class, and all those who desired restoration of white supremacy. Its purposes were political, but political in the broadest sense, for it sought to affect power relations, both public and private, throughout Southern society. It aimed to reverse the interlocking changes sweeping over the South during Reconstruction: to destroy the Republican party's infrastructure, undermine the Reconstruction state, reestablish control of the black labor force, and restore racial subordination in every aspect of Southern life. To that end they worked to curb the education, economic advancement,voting rights, andright to keep and bear armsof blacks. The Ku Klux Klan soon spread into nearly every southern state, launching a "reign of terroragainstRepublicanleaders both black and white. Those political leaders assassinated during the campaign included Arkansas Congressman James M. Hinds, three members of theSouth Carolinalegislature, and several men who served in constitutional conventions." 1.2 ActivitiesKlan members adopted masks and robes that hid their identities and added to the drama of their night rides, their chosen time for attacks. Many of them operated in small towns and rural areas where people otherwise knew each other's faces, and sometimes still recognized the attackers. "The kind of thing that men are afraid or ashamed to do openly, and by day, they accomplish secretly, masked, and at night."The Ku Klux Klan night riders "sometimes claimed to be ghosts of Confederate soldiers so, as they claimed, to frighten superstitious blacks. Few freedmen took such nonsense seriously." The Klan attacked black members of theLoyal Leaguesand intimidated southern Republicans andFreedmen's Bureauworkers. When they killed black political leaders, they also took heads of families, along with the leaders of churches and community groups, because these people had many roles in society. Agents of the Freedmen's Bureau reported weekly assaults and murders of blacks. Masked men shot into houses and burned them, sometimes with the occupants still inside. They drove successful black farmers off their land. Klan violence worked to suppress black voting. More than 2,000 persons were killed, wounded and otherwise injured inLouisianawithin a few weeks prior to the Presidential election of November 1868. The KKK killed and wounded more than 200 black Republicans, hunting and chasing them through the woods. Thirteen captives were taken from jail and shot; a half-buried pile of 25 bodies was found in the woods. The KKK made people vote Democratic and gave them certificates of the fact. Klansmen killed more than 150 African Americans in a county inFlorida, and hundreds more in other counties. Freedmen's Bureau records provided a detailed recounting of Klansmen's beatings and murders of freedmen and their white allies. Milder encounters also occurred InMississippi, according to the Congressional inquiry.By 1868, two years after the Klan's creation, its activity was beginning to decrease. Members were hiding behind Klan masks and robes as a way to avoid prosecution for freelance violence. Many influential southern Democrats feared that Klan lawlessness provided an excuse for the federal government to retain its power over the South, and they began to turn against it.There were outlandish claims made, such as GeorgianB. H. Hillstating "that some of these outrages were actually perpetrated by the political friends of the parties slain."

1.3 Decline and replacements by other groupsIn 1870 a federal grand jury determined that the Klan was a "terroristorganization".It issued hundreds of indictments for crimes of violence and terrorism. Klan members were prosecuted, and many fled from areas that were under federal government jurisdiction, particularly in South Carolina. Many people not formally inducted into the Klan had used the Klan's costume for anonymity, to hide their identities when carrying out acts of violence. Stanley Horn, a Klan historian argues that "generally speaking, the Klan's end was more in the form of spotty, slow, and gradual disintegration than a formal and decisive disbandment". Moreover, a Georgia based reporter wrote in 1870 that, "A true statement of the case is not that the Ku Klux are an organized band of licensed criminals, but that men who commit crimes call themselves Ku Klux".While people used the Klan as a mask for nonpolitical crimes, state and local governments seldom acted against them. African Americans were kept off juries. In lynching cases, all-white juries almost never indicted Ku Klux Klan members. When there was a rare indictment, juries were unlikely to vote for a conviction. In part, jury members feared reprisals from local Klansmen.Others may have agreed with lynching as a way of keeping dominance over black men. In many states, officials were reluctant to use black militia against the Klan out of fear that racial tensions would be raised. In some areas, other local paramilitary organizations such as theWhite League,Red Shirts, saber clubs, and rifle clubs continued to intimidate and murder black voters.In 1874, organized whiteparamilitarygroups were formed in the Deep South to replace the faltering Klan: theWhite LeagueinLouisianaand theRed ShirtsinMississippi, NorthandSouth Carolina.

2. Next chapter in the Klans life(1915-1944)2.1 Refounding in 1915 In 1915, three separate events acted as catalysts to the revival of the Klan:The filmThe Birth of a Nationwas released, mythologising and glorifying the first Klan and their endeavour.In 1915 Jewish businessmanLeo Frankwas lynched near Atlanta after the Georgia governor commuted his death sentence to life in prison. Frank had been convicted in 1913 and sentenced to death for the murder of a young white factory worker namedMary Phagan, in a trial marked by media frenzy. Although the conviction was appealed, it was upheld at each appellate level.The second Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1915 byWilliam J. SimmonsatStone Mountain, outside Atlanta. Its growth was based on a new anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic,prohibitionistand antisemitic agenda, which developed in response to contemporary social tensions. Most of the founders were from a small Atlanta-area organization called the Knights of Mary Phagan, who had organized around Leo Frank's trial. The new organization and chapters adopted regalia featured inThe Birth of a Nation.In an era withoutSocial Securityor widely availablelife insurance, men joinedfraternal organizationssuch as theElksor theWoodmen of the Worldto provide for their families in case they died or were unable to work. The founder of the new Klan,William J. Simmons, was a member of twelve different fraternal organizations. Herecruited for the Klanwith his chest covered with fraternal badges, and consciously modeled the Klan after fraternal organizations.Klan organizers, called "Kleagles", signed up hundreds of new members, who paid initiation fees and received KKK costumes in return. The organizer kept half the money and sent the rest to state or national officials. When the organizer was done with an area, he organized a huge rally, often with burning crosses, and perhaps presented aBibleto a local Protestant preacher. He left town with the money collected.

2.2 ActivitiesSimmons initially met with little success in either recruiting members or in raising money, and the Klan remained a small operation in the Atlanta area until 1920, when he handed its day-to-day activities over to two professional publicists,Elizabeth TylerandEdward Young Clarke. The revived Klan appealed to new members based on current social tensions, and stressed responses to fears raised by immigration and mass migrations within industrializing cities: it becameanti-Jewish,anti-Catholic,anti-immigrantand lateranti-Communist. It presented itself as a fraternal, nativist and strenuously patriotic organization; and its leaders emphasized support for vigorous enforcement ofprohibitionlaws. It expanded membership dramatically; by the 1920s, most of its members lived in the Midwest and West. It had a national base by 1925.Religion was a major selling point. Baker argues that Klansmen seriously embraced Protestantism as an essential component of their white supremacist, anti-Catholic, and paternalistic formulation of American democracy and national culture. Their cross was a religious symbol, and their ritual honored Bibles and local ministers. However no nationally prominent religious leader said he was a Klan member.Historians agree that the Klan's resurgence in the 1920s was aided by the national debate over prohibition.The historian Prendergast says that the KKKs "support forProhibitionrepresented the single most important bond between Klansmen throughout the nation".The Klan opposed bootleggers, sometimes with violence.

2.3 The burning crossThe second Klan embraced a burningLatin crossprimarily as a symbol of intimidation.No crosses had been used as a symbol by the first Klan.Additionally, the cross was henceforth a representation of the Klan's Christian message. Thus, its lighting during meetings was often accompanied by prayer, the singing of hymns, and other overtly religious symbolism. The practice of cross burning had been loosely based onancient Scottish clans' burningaSt. Andrew's cross(an X-shaped cross) as a beacon to muster forces for war. InThe Clansman, Dixon had falsely claimed that the first Klan had used fiery crosses when rallying to fight against Reconstruction. Griffith brought this image to the screen inThe Birth of a Nation; he portrayed the burning cross as an uprightLatin crossrather than the St. Andrew's cross. Simmons adopted the symbol wholesale from the movie, prominently displaying it at the 1915 Stone Mountain meeting. The symbol has been associated with the Klan ever since.

2.4 Political roleThe members of the first Klan in the South were exclusivelyDemocrats. The second Klan expanded with new chapters in the Midwest and West, where for a time, its members were courted by bothRepublicansand Democrats. The KKK state organizations endorsed candidates from either party that supported its goals; Prohibition in particular helped the Klan and some Republicans to make common cause in the Midwest.The Klan had numerous members in every part of the United States, but was particularly strong in the South and Midwest. At its peak, claimed Klan membership exceeded four million and comprised 20% of the adult white male population in many broad geographic regions, and 40% in some areas.[103]The Klan also moved north into Canada, especiallySaskatchewan, where it opposed Catholics

2.5 Resistance and declineMany groups and leaders, including prominent Protestant ministers such asReinhold Niebuhrin Detroit, spoke out against the Klan, gaining national attention. The JewishAnti-Defamation Leaguewas formed in the early 20th century after the lynching ofLeo Frank, and in response to attacks againstJewish Americansand the Klan's campaign to outlaw private schools. Opposing groups worked to penetrate the Klan's secrecy. After one civic group began to publish Klan membership lists, there was a rapid decline in members. TheNational Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoplecreated public education campaigns in order to inform people about Klan activities and lobbied in Congress against Klan abuses. After its peak in 1925, Klan membership in most areas began to decline rapidly. In Alabama, KKK vigilantes launched a wave of physical terror in 1927. They targeted both blacks and whites for violation of racial norms and for perceived moral lapses.This led to a strong backlash, beginning in the media.Grover C. Hall, Sr., editor of theMontgomery Advertiserfrom 1926, wrote a series of editorials and articles that attacked the Klan. (Today the paper says it "waged war on the resurgent [KKK]".) Hall won aPulitzer Prizefor the crusade, the 1928Editorial Writing Pulitzer, citing "his editorials against gangsterism, floggings and racial and religious intolerance." Other newspapers kept up a steady, loud attack on the Klan, referring to the organization as violent and "un-American". Sheriffs cracked down on activities. In the1928 presidential election, the state voters overcame initial opposition to the Catholic candidateAl Smith, and voted the Democratic Party line as usual.Although in decline, a measure of the Klan's influence was its march along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC in 1928.

3. Later Klans (1950 through 1960s)The name "Ku Klux Klan" began to be used by several independent groups. Beginning in the 1950s, for instance, individual Klan groups inBirmingham, Alabama, began to resist social change and blacks' efforts to improve their lives by bombing houses in transitional neighborhoods. There were so many bombings in Birmingham of blacks' homes by Klan groups in the 1950s that the city's nickname was "Bombingham".During the tenure ofBull Connoras police commissioner in the city, Klan groups were closely allied with the police and operated with impunity. When theFreedom Ridersarrived in Birmingham, Connor gave Klan members fifteen minutes to attack the riders before sending in the police to quell the attack.When local and state authorities failed to protect the Freedom Riders and activists, the federal government established effective intervention.In states such as Alabama andMississippi, Klan members forged alliances with governors' administrations.In Birmingham and elsewhere, the KKK groups bombed the houses ofcivil rightsactivists. In some cases they used physical violence, intimidation and assassination directly against individuals. Many murders went unreported and were not prosecuted by local and state authorities. Continuingdisfranchisementof blacks across the South meant that most could not serve on juries, which were all white.

4. Contemporary Klan4.1 PresentThe present Ku Klux Klan is no longer one organization, but is made up of small independent chapters across the United States. The formation of independent chapters has made the KKK groups more difficult to infiltrate and researchers find it hard to estimate their numbers.KKK members have increased in recent years, with membership estimated at 5,000 to 8,000 among an estimated 179 chapters. The latest recruitment drives have used hot button issues like people's anxieties about illegal immigration, urban crime and samesex marriage. ^The only known former member of the Klan to hold a federal office in the United States is Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who says he "deeply regrets" having joined the Klan over half a century ago, when he was about 24 years old.

Although there are numerous KKK groups, the media and popular discourse generally speak of the Ku Klux Klan for expediency.In a July 2005 incident, a Hispanic man's house was burned down in Hamilton, Ohio, after accusations that he sexually assaulted a nine-year-old white girl. Klan members in Klan robes showed up afterward to distribute pamphlets. Various Klan rallies occur every year across the country.

4.2 References in popular culturesThe KKK appears as an antagonist in several recent movies and a television show. The 2000 film Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? included a scene shot as a KKK rally, featuring a cross burning and lynching, that includes a musical performance of a traditional American song called Oh Death. The opening scenes of a 2003 movie entitled Bad Boys II a Klan rally is featured, including a cross burning. In the current television show South Park a character has appeared dressed as a Klansman numerous times.6. VocabularyMembership in the Klan is secret. Like many fraternal organizations, the Klan has signs which members can use to recognize one another. A member may use the acronym AYAK (Are you a Klansman?) in conversation to surreptitiously identify himself to another potential member. The response AKIA (A Klansman I am) completes the greeting.

Throughout its varied history, the Klan has coined many words beginning with "KL" including: Klabee: treasurers Kleagle: recruiter Klecktoken: initiation fee Kligrapp: secretary Klonvocation: gathering Kloran: ritual book Kloreroe: delegate Kludd: chaplain

All of the above terminology was created by William Simmons, as part of his 1915 revival of the Klan. The Reconstruction-era Klan used different titles; the only titles to carry over were "Wizard" (or Imperial Wizard) for the overall leader of the Klan, "Night Hawk" for the official in charge of security, and a few others, mostly for regional officers of the organization.

7. Conclusion

To cut things short, the Ku Klux Klan has been present in the United States for almost 150 years. As of today, there is no such organization as a single Ku Klux Klan. Current Klan-related organizations are small, splinter, independent groups which are located across the United States, especially in the Southern states. These organizations not only try to maintain the Ku Klux Klan's traditions and rituals but also share similar beliefs.Current Klan-related groups' ideology is centered on the idea of white supremacy and segregation. These organizations share Ku Klux Klan's racist attitudes towards African-Americans, Jews, homosexuals, and immigrants. Minority groups are perceived by their leaders, who stubbornly refuse to acknowledge their movements as "hate groups", as a threat to the white, Christian America.

8. Bibliography

Axelrod, Alan (1997). The International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies & Fraternal Orders. New York: Facts On File. Barr, Andrew (1999). Drink: A Social History of America. New York: Carroll & Graf. Dray, Philip (2002). At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America. New York: Random House. Egerton, John (1994). Speak Now Against the Day: The Generation Before the Civil Rights Movement in the South. Alfred and Knopf Inc.. Feldman, Glenn (1999). Politics, Society, and the Klan in Alabama, 19151949. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press. Foner, Eric (1989). Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863- 1877. Perennial (HarperCollins). Franklin, John Hope (1992). Race and History: Selected Essays 1938-1988. Louisiana State University Press. Horn, Stanley F. (1939). Invisible Empire: The Story of the Ku Klux Klan, 1866-1871. Montclair, New Jersey: Patterson Smith Publishing Corporation. http://wikipedia.com/Ku_Klux_Klan.com McWhorter, Diane (2001). Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution. New York: Simon & Schuster. Parsons, Elaine Frantz (2005). "Midnight Rangers: Costume and Performance in the Reconstruction-Era Ku Klux Klan,!. The Journal of American History 92 (3): 811-836.

9. Appendix

Three Ku Klux Klan members arrested in Tishomingo County, Mississippi,September 1871, for the attempted murder of an entire family.

Three Ku Klux Klan members standing at a 1922 parade.

Ku Klux Klan members march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. in 1928

Ku Klux Klan Gathering