The KKK

Racism and Terrorism, Then and Now

 Background
• Ku Klux Klan founded by former
Confederate officers in Pulaski,
Tennesse, 1866
• Right-wing, white
supremacist, anti-immigrant 
• 3 versions of the Klan: 
• Reconstruction Era (1865 –
1877)
• 1915 – WW2 (1940s) 
• 1950s – today 
• All active during times of greater
African-American rights; reaction
to changing times 
 Politics and Violence
• KKK commits acts of terrorism
throughout its history 
• Intimidation, rallies, violence all: 
• Try to prevent African-Americans
from fully participating in
gov/democracy
• Sway whites, spread racist ideas 
• Dehumanize African-Americans,
other people of color, and
immigrants 
• Also sway elections, influence racist
laws, support politicians, etc. 
"America should build
a wall of steel, a wall as
high as Heaven, against
the flow of immigrants." 
Georgia Governor Clifford Walker, at
a 1924 convention of the KKK
Lynching

• The KKK often used lynching: mob killing without trial, usually by
hanging 
• However, lynching would often occur without the KKK 
• Often a man accused of a crime (often with no evidence) 
• Often large groups would attack, torture, mutilate, and kill black men
• ~4,200 African-Americans were lynched from 1880 – 1920 
• Still a powerful symbol of racism 
• Today, more black men are killed by police than lynching did in 1892 
The KKK Today: 100 – 150 chapters, 3,000 - 8,000 members