Referat The History of the Ku Klux Klan - The Birth of the Ku Klux Klan (1866-1871), The Ku Klux Klan Today, The Terror Acts of the Ku Klux Klan Today and in the near past

The History of the Ku Klux Klan

Preface: It is not very simple to write down the history of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), because there are many contradictory information about the Ku Klux Klan. A good example for this is the number of the members in the 1920's. In the Encyclopedia Americana is written down they have had 1.5 million members, on the contrary, the Encyclopaedia Britannica says they have had 4 million members. I think, the reason for these differences are that the Klan was an undercover organization and that they counted there members not very often.
There are three main periods: the first one from 1865 till 1871, the second one from 1915 till 1944 and the last one from 1946 till today. Between these periods the Klan was forbidden or had died out.

The Birth of the Ku Klux Klan (1866-1871): BILD FOUNDERThe KKK was founded after the Civil War (1861-65) to keep the old order of the separation between the whites and the Afro-Americans. It was organized as a social club for Confederated veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1866. The first leader of the Klan was Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was also called the Grand Wizard. The name Ku Klux Klan comes from the Greek word kyklos (circle) and the English word clan (Ky klos clan _ Ku Klux Klan).The Klan members soon began to attack Afro-Americans, which wanted to be political active, for example to go to an election or only wishing to be registered in the town hall. They also beat them up, forced them to leave town or even murdered them and their sympathizer. To hide there identity the members wore white robes and hoods, they also put sheets over the horses. The KKK spread quickly through the south of the U.S.A. and got also known as the 'Invisible Empire of the South'. In 1867 the Ku Klux Klan got a secret army to oppose the Unionist/Republican state government.
The 'Force Bill' was passed by Congress in 1871. This law was the beginning of the end of the 1^st period, because it allowed President Grant to send federal troops to the main scope of action and he really did it. When this law was passed the Klan soon disappeared. In 1882 the Supreme Court declared the KKK also unconstitutional.

The 2^nd Klan (1915-1944): The new Klan was founded in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1915 by William J. Simmons. He got his inspirations from Thomas Dixion's book 'The Clansman' (1905) and the film 'The Birth of a Nation' (1915) from D. W. Griffith. The Ku Klux Klan was a Protestant fraternal society, that is why they attacked not only blacks and immigrants, but also Jews and sometimes even Roman Catholics.
The number of members in the early 1920's varied in the different encyclopedias from 1.5 million to 4 million. But the Klan have definitively had the most members in this time. The organization drew members from all ranks of the white society, but mainly from the lower middle class people. The Klan got also more and more power in states like Indiana, Oklahoma, Oregon and in nearly the whole south. The Klan made the people fear of the immigrants, communists and other minorities and fed their frustration to get new members.
There was only a small part which was as violent as the Klan members in the 1^st period. Most of the members were nonviolent, they only marched in parades, paid fee, vote for the political candidates of the Klan or perhaps took part in rallies where crosses were burned. The original Ku Klux Klan did not make cross burnings, this is one of the ideas of Dixon's book.
During the world economic crisis 1930's the membership dropped drastically and the last rests of the Klan were disbanded in 1944.

The 3^rd Klan (1946-today): Samuel Green revived the Klan in Atlanta in 1946 again. At the beginning the KKK lived from the fear of Communism. In 1949 S. Green died and the Klan got divided in many splinter groups like the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan or The New Order Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.  During the civil-rights movement in the 1960's the different Klans got stronger again. In this time all Klans together have had about 17000 members, in 1979 there were only 10000 members. When the civil-rights movement started, some splinter groups began to get huge arsenals of guns and other military gear. They terrorized supporters of civil-rights movement all over the south of the USA. They had the highest murder rate at this time they ever have had. In the late 1970's and early 1980's they got new members again, because there were special programs to help the black citizens. Today the Klans sympathize Neo-Nazis and other right-wing extremists.

The Ku Klux Klan Today
For what does the Klan stand? The Ku Klux Klan was reconstructed after World War II and is still existing. Today there are many fractions of the Ku Klux Klan like the 'Knights Of The Ku Klux Klan', the 'New Order Knights' or the 'Invisible Empire'. There are also many Klan-like organizations which have some differences but in the most cases they have the same opinion. After the review of many WebPages written by Klan and Klan-near organizations I figured out that many Klan groups agree on the most ideas. They all are Protestant fundamentalist who fight against Jews and Catholics. Like the Nazis they have the idea, that the Jews are decomposing the US society. Also they say that the Jews killed Jesus to legitimize their attacks on them. They all say that they believe in the US Constitution and that they are anti-Communists. And they are all still fighting against miscegenation and very hard against interracial marriage. But there are new ideas the Klan stands for. They made many marches against gay rights and abortion. All Klan organizations claim that it was their goal to protect the United States by decreasing or even stopping immigration. There are also some groups fighting against welfare, because they want that the people work for the money they get. Some organizations want to quarantine all AIDS carriers. They have the idea that this is the only possibility to stop infection. And many Klan groups have a very rough drug policy. So they ⁺demand drug testing for all welfare recipients. Very often you can hear opinions like: 'If they have money for drugs, they do not need our tax dollars.' And they want the death penalty for drug dealers.

What is the position of the Ku Klux Klan about blacks?

It is still one of the biggest interests of the Klan 'to protect the Aryan race'. Nearly all Klan Organizations demand segregation to protect the white race. They believe in the white race's superiority. The Klan says that Affirmative Action is a ' Reverse Discrimination'. They demand that all integration attempts will be stopped. On Klan-near WebPages I found some information which display the position of the most Klan organizations. One very important thing is, that they believe that the Afro-Americans are stupid and have a lower IQ than the white people. They refer to gaps between the IQ of white and blacks children they claim to have found.
They explain these differences with differences between the white man's brain and Afro-American brains. They want to show that the brains of black people are more similar to a monkey brain than to a human brain. A very important point in their argumentation is that the most crimes are committed by blacks. According to a FBI report blacks commit much more crimes than white; They say that '50% of all African American males have a prison record.' The Klan explains that with the 'character of the blacks'. They do not make the social differences and discrimination responsible for these facts.
This is a behavior often used by extremists: They use the facts which are useful for them and ignore the facts which could be able to destroy their argumentation.
But also they want to show that blacks are dangerous for the society. You can often read that blacks were never able to built up a society. But they claim much more. For example they try to show that all countries who 'absorbed the Negro gene pool' have a ruined economy and society today, as Portugal and Egypt have.
As another method the Ku Klux Klan uses denunciation to support their aims. So they say that Martin Luther King did ' bizarre sexual perversion' and they also claim that in his FBI records is written that he was 'under the direct orders of Soviet spies and financed by the Communist Party.'

Where can you find the Klan?
There are more than 120 Klan groups in the US today. The Klan is found in many states of the US, but there are organizations which claim to operate in the whole world. There are about 400 members in Britain and 4,000 to 6,500 members in different fractions in the US today (in 1981 they have had about 10,000 members). Since they are underground groups nobody really knows how many members and supporters the Klan has. In the map below you can see how many Klan Organizations are in the US, but nobody knows if they have 10, 100 or more members. But in the last years the Klan got new power again. Events like the O. J. Simpson lawsuit encouraged more people to join the Klan.As you can see, the most Klan groups are found in the East today. The most KKK groups are located in Florida. It is also very important to know that some Ku Klux Klan groups and members cooperate with Neo-Nazi groups and parties like the 'New Order Knights', who are a combination of the KKK and Nazi ideas, for example.

How does the Ku Klux Klan behave? The most Klan groups are very independent and do not accept a central authority. Some of these groups are a terrorism community but others do not use illegal methods to reach their aims. But there are also some groups which seem to cooperate. The 'Invisible Empire' for example or 'The Knights of the White Kamellia' which have 'many' groups in different states and a common leadership.
But they do more than to fear people. They do nighttime attacks especially against blacks, bombings, arson attacks and whippings. Some Klan organizations provide paramilitary training for members. The Klan fights for the US weapon right and encourages every member to have a weapon.
These Klan organizations are the most dangerous. Another problem is, that the Klan itself sometimes is unable to handle their people. But there are actions which are done with the supporting of a Ku Klux Klan group. Here is an overview of some actions happened in the last decades:

The Terror Acts of the Ku Klux Klan Today and in the near past To reach their aims, some Klan organizations use the same methods as 100 years ago. They create a atmosphere of fear and terror. They use hate and violence. A good example for this fact is the ' Fiery Cross'. It was used at first in the 1920's to fear opponents of the Klan. The 'Fiery Cross' is a burning wooden cross which stands near the house of their enemies. While the cross burns the robe and hood wearing members make a procedure around it.Here are some terror acts of the Klan from the early 1980's till the end of the 1990's:

February 22, 1983, Knox County, Tennessee: At this day two Klansmen were arrested because they put a pistol at the nose of a 71-year-old black man to kill him. They did it because 'they just didn't like my color'.
- May 30, 1983: Two members of the KKK have burned a cross next the home of a black prison guard. Later they hit him and his family and demolished his house.
- April 8, 1984, Cedartown, Georgia: A robed and hooded member of the Knights of the KKK robbed a 18-year-old black.
- August 10, 1984, Talloopsa and Waco, Georgia: Five Klansmen were arrested because they broke in to attack a colored man and his white wife and another white women which sympathize with blacks.
- Klan member in front of the Confederated Flag. Violence is often used by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

-January 24, 1997, Martinton, Illinois: The police raid the home from the Ku Klux Klan member Ricky Salyer. They found 35,000 rounds of heavy ammunition like grenades, shells for grenade launchers, smoke and tear gas and other military gear. This weapons are able to destroy heavy armor. Salyer has been eleven times in a prison before.
- April 22, 1997 Fort Worth, Texas: Three member of the Ku Klux Klan planned to blow up a natural gas refinery. This member also planned to kill hundreds of people including children as a diversion from a simultaneous robbery. All of them declared to be guilty and they will get up to 20 years in prison.
- February 23,1998, St. Luis, Illinois: Three men with links to the Ku Klux Klan wanted to kill the federal judge and civil right lawyer Morris Dees. To blow up the southern Poverty Law Center, Dees was a co-founder of it, was also planed by them. Another plan of them was to poison five water supplies and to rob banks.
These events, especially the newer ones, show that the Klan is still dangerous and has to be watched by government and other organizations like 'Klanwatch' or 'Stop-The-Hate'.

Symbols used by the Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan still uses many symbols. Since the Ku Klux Klan is a very religious organization, the Cross is a very important symbol. The most famous symbol of the Klan is the 'Fiery Cross'. The Klan claims that it is used to 'represent the ideals of Christian Civilization'. They contend that they 'light the Cross with fire to signify to the world that Jesus Christ is the light of the world.' However, this symbol was and is often used to fright blacks and their supporters. There are also theories that some groups burn down the Cross to desecrate it.Since the 1920's the symbol which stands for the Klan is the 'Blood Drop' symbol. In the center of it you can see a red drop. Some organizations claim it shows a blood drop, which stand for 'the blood of Jesus Christ, which was for the White Aryan Race'. But Rick Anderson, the 'Grand Titan' of the ' Realm of Texas' told me, it was the symbol 'for the last drop of blood that a Klansman will shed in defense of the White Race'. The cross in it displays the religious persuasion of the Klan members. In the background you can see a red circle which is a symbol for the community of the Klansmen. The best known symbol of the Ku Klux Klan is the Klan Robe and Hood. You can often find the argumentation that the robe is worn as a symbol of humility for their Christian rituals, like the robes which are often worn by monks. They say that the mask symbolize the anonymity and by that the 'selfless dedication to our God, our nation, our race, our Klan Brothers and Sisters and our Klan Movement.' But it is a fact, that this robe is always worn when a Klan members does anything illegal. It is also sure that they use the robe to fear people.

The Chain of Command of the Ku Klux Klan In the 1920's the Klan have had a very complex chain of command, when they have had more than 4,000,000 members. But since they have less than 10,000 members, divided into several Klan organizations today, they simplified their chain of command. In the 1920's there were only one 'Imperial Wizard' who commanded the Klansmen. But today there are many 'Imperial Wizards' which all claim to be the right one. So you can say that not only the Klan at all has lost very much power. The Klan is divided today and does not accept a general leader. Here is a description of the chain of command of the 'Knights of the White Kamellia'. This hierarchy is based on information I got from Rick Anderson, who is the 'Grand Titan' of the 'Realm of Texas' via e-mail (you can find the e-mail in the appendix of this project):

Referring to him, the Klan is a 'military in structure'. Each leader has his staff, which is working for him. The staffs are not listed in this diagram, because a member of the staff can not command someone. The chain of command starts with the 'Imperial Wizard' who leads the Klan (here: 'The Knights of the White Kamellia'). In each State, where the 'Knights of the White Kamellia' are active (Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Miami, Virginia) there is a Grand Dragon who is responsible for a special state. If it is one of the bigger states, it may be divided it into several parts, called 'Provinces'. The master of such a 'Province' is called 'Grand Titan'. Every Klan group has its own leader, who is called the ' Exalted Cyclops'. The normal Klan Members have no possibility to influence their leaders.