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"KKK" redirects here. For other uses, see KKK (disambiguation).
"Klansman" redirects here. For other uses, see Clansman (disambiguation).
Ku Klux Klan
KKK.svg

KKK-Flag.svg
Ku Klux Klan emblem and flag
In existence
1st Klan 1865–1871
2nd Klan 1915–1944
3rd Klan 1946–present
Members
1st Klan Unknown
2nd Klan 3,000,000–6,000,000[1] (peaked in 1924–1925)
3rd Klan 5,000–8,000[2]
Properties
Political ideologies
Nordicism
Neo-Confederate (first and third Klans)
White supremacy
White nationalism
Nativism (second and third Klans)[3]
Anti-immigration (second and third Klans)
Anti-communism (second and third Klan)
Christian terrorism[4][5]
Anti-Catholicism (second Klan)
Prohibition (second Klan)
Antisemitism (second and third Klans)
Neo-fascism (third Klan)
Neo-Nazism (third Klan)
Anti-Islam (third Klan)
Anti-LGBT (third Klan)
Political position Far-right
Espoused religion
Protestantism (second Klan)[6]
Christian Identity (second and third Klans)[7]
The Ku Klux Klan (/ˌkuː klʌks ˈklæn, ˌkjuː-/),[a] commonly called the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist hate group, whose primary target is African Americans.[8] The Klan has existed in three distinct eras at different points in time during the history of the United States. Each has advocated extremist reactionary positions such as white nationalism, anti-immigration and—especially in later iterations—Nordicism[9][10] and anti-Catholicism. Historically, the first Klan used terrorism – both physical assault and murder – against politically active blacks and their allies in the South in the late 1860s, until it was suppressed around 1872. All three movements have called for the "purification" of American society and all are considered "right-wing extremist" organizations.[11][12][13][14] In each era, membership was secret and estimates of the total were highly exaggerated by both friends and enemies.

The first Klan flourished in the Southern United States in the late 1860s during Reconstruction, then died out by the early 1870s. It sought to overthrow the Republican state governments in the South, especially by using violence against African-American leaders. Each chapter was autonomous and highly secret as to membership and plans. Its numerous chapters across the South were suppressed around 1871, through federal law enforcement. Members made their own, often colorful, costumes: robes, masks and conical hats, designed to be terrifying and to hide their identities.[15][16]

The second Klan started small in Georgia in 1915. It grew after 1920 and flourished nationwide in the early and mid-1920s, including urban areas of the Midwest and West. Taking inspiration from D. W. Griffith's 1915 silent film The Birth of a Nation, which mythologized the founding of the first Klan, it employed marketing techniques and a popular fraternal organization structure. Rooted in local Protestant communities, it sought to maintain white supremacy, often took a pro-Prohibition stance, and it opposed Catholics and Jews, while also stressing its opposition to the alleged political power of the Pope and the Catholic Church. This second organization was funded by initiation fees and selling its members a standard white costume. The chapters did not have dues. It used K-words which were similar to those used by the first Klan, while adding cross burnings and mass parades to intimidate others. It rapidly declined in the later half of the 1920s.

The third and current manifestation of the KKK emerged after 1950, in the form of localized and isolated groups that use the KKK name. They have focused on opposition to the civil rights movement, often using violence and murder to suppress activists. It is classified as a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center.[17] As of 2016, the Anti-Defamation League puts total KKK membership nationwide at around 3,000, while the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) puts it at 6,000 members total.[18]

The second and third incarnations of the Ku Klux Klan made frequent references to America's "Anglo-Saxon" blood, hearkening back to 19th-century nativism.[19] Although members of the KKK swear to uphold Christian morality, virtually every Christian denomination has officially denounced the KKK.[20]


Contents
1 Overview: Three Klans
1.1 First KKK
1.2 Second KKK
1.3 Third KKK
2 History
2.1 Origin of the name
2.2 First Klan: 1865–1871
2.2.1 Creation and naming
2.2.2 Activities
2.2.3 Resistance
2.2.4 End of the first Klan
2.3 Second Klan: 1915–1944
2.3.1 Refounding in 1915
2.3.1.1 The Birth of a Nation
2.3.2 Goals
2.3.3 Organization
2.3.4 Perceived moral threats
2.3.5 Rapid growth
2.3.5.1 Prohibition
2.3.6 Urbanization
2.3.7 Costumes and the burning cross
2.3.8 Women
2.3.9 Political role
2.3.10 Resistance and decline
2.3.11 Labor and anti-unionism
2.4 National changes
2.4.1 Historiography of the second Klan
2.4.1.1 Anti-modern interpretations
2.4.1.2 New social history interpretations
2.4.1.3 Indiana and Alabama
2.5 Later Klans: 1950s–present
2.5.1 1950s–1960s: post-war opposition to civil rights
2.5.1.1 Resistance
2.5.2 1970s–present
2.5.2.1 Massacre of Communist Workers' Party protesters
2.5.2.2 Jerry Thompson infiltration
2.5.2.3 Chattanooga, Tennessee shooting
2.5.2.4 Michael Donald lynching
2.5.2.5 Neo-Nazi alliances and Stormfront
2.5.2.6 Current developments
2.5.2.7 Current Klan organizations
3 Outside the United States
4 Titles and vocabulary
5 See also
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links
Overview: Three Klans
First KKK
See also: Nathan Bedford Forrest § Ku Klux Klan membership
The first Klan was founded in Pulaski, Tennessee, on December 24, 1865[21] by six former officers of the Confederate army[22] as a fraternal social club inspired at least in part by the then largely defunct Sons of Malta. It borrowed parts of the initiation ceremony from that group, with the same purpose: "ludicrous initiations, the baffling of public curiosity, and the amusement for members were the only objects of the Klan", according to Albert Stevens in 1907.[23] The manual of rituals was printed by Laps D. McCord of Pulaski.[24]

According to The Cyclopædia of Fraternities (1907), "Beginning in April, 1867, there was a gradual transformation ... The members had conjured up a veritable Frankenstein. They had played with an engine of power and mystery, though organized on entirely innocent lines, and found themselves overcome by a belief that something must lie behind it all – that there was, after all, a serious purpose, a work for the Klan to do."[23]

Although there was little organizational structure above the local level, similar groups rose across the South and adopted the same name and methods.[clarification needed][25] Klan groups spread throughout the South as an insurgent movement promoting resistance and white supremacy during the Reconstruction Era. For example, Confederate veteran John W. Morton founded a chapter in Nashville, Tennessee.[26] As a secret vigilante group, the Klan targeted freedmen and their allies; it sought to restore white supremacy by threats and violence, including murder. "They targeted white Northern leaders, Southern sympathizers and politically active blacks."[27] In 1870 and 1871, the federal government passed the Enforcement Acts, which were intended to prosecute and suppress Klan crimes.[28]

The first Klan had mixed results in terms of achieving its objectives. It seriously weakened the black political establishment through its use of assassinations and threats of violence; it drove some people out of politics. On the other hand, it caused a sharp backlash, with passage of federal laws that historian Eric Foner says were a success in terms of "restoring order, reinvigorating the morale of Southern Republicans, and enabling blacks to exercise their rights as citizens".[29] Historian George C. Rable argues that the Klan was a political failure and therefore was discarded by the Democratic leaders of the South. He says:

the Klan d

very fun