Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan is America's oldest and most notorious white supremacist organization. Originally formed to combat Reconstruction in the South following the Civil War, it soon became identified with virulent and violent racism, nativism, anti-Semitism, and terrorism. It has been embedded in the American cultural psyche and political consciousness virtually since its inception, evoking fear for its victims and repugnance among the educated and the liberal elements of society, while profoundly influencing the attitudes of those induced to follow its tenets, which are strongly wrapped in a skewed vision of patriotism. The Klan's public behavior and its treatment and exposure in the media have served to keep its presence in the public eye.
The name derived from the Greek kuklos, meaning "circle" and a corruption of "clan," or family, a fanciful idea created by six idle young Confederate war veterans who relieved the tedium of life in Pulaski, Tennessee, by dressing up in ghostly white sheets by night and playing pranks on their neighbors. Although its numbers gradually increased, the Klan was little more than a gang of ruffians until 1867, when Congress passed the Congressional Reconstruction Act. The new law mandated military occupation of the South, invalidated most of the region's existing state governments, and decreed that the rights of the newly freed black slaves would be guaranteed by force, if necessary.
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