The Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

Even if the African American people won the battle against the “black codes” in the Southern States helped by the Republican Party, now they were faced to a new problem… the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

Founded in 1866, the Ku Klux Klan extended into almost every southern state by 1870 and became a vehicle for white southern resistance to the Republican Party’s Reconstruction. Its members, a group formed by many Confederate veterans, acted as a campaign of intimidation and violence against white and black Republican leaders. Its leader was Nathan Bedford Forrest a Confederate general, the first leader, called the “Grand Wizard” of the Klan; he presided over a hierarchy of grand dragons, grand titans and grand cyclopses. They were joined by similar organizations such as the Knights of the White Camelia (from Louisiana) and the White Brotherhood. When the Congress passed a legislation in order to curb Klan terrorism, the organization saw its primary goal, to re-establish the white supremacy. Little by little, black legislators elected during the 1867-1868 constitutional conventions became victims of violence during Reconstruction, even seven of them were killed. Quickly, black institutions such as schools and churches, symbols of black autonomy, were also targets for Klan attacks.

Their attacks were mainly at night, acting on their own but in support of the common goals of defeating Radical Reconstruction and restoring white supremacy in the South. Klan activity flourished particularly in where blacks were a minority. Among the most notorious zones of Klan activity was South Carolina, where in January 1871, 500 masked men attacked the Union county jail and lynched eight black prisoners.

As everybody feared the terrorist group (nobody wanted to testify against them), the Republican state governments in the South turned to Congress for help, resulting in the passage of three Enforcement Acts, the strongest of which was the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871

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For the first time, the act authorized the president to suspend the writ of habeas corpus (summons with the force of a court order) and arrest accused individuals without charge, and to send federal forces to suppress Klan violence. This expansion of federal authority alarmed many Republicans and by the end of 1876, the entire South was under Democratic control once again.

In 1915, reappeared the Ku Klux Klan near Atlanta, Georgia, formed by white Protestant nativists. However, this second generation of the Klan was not only anti-black but also against Roman Catholics, Jews, foreigners and organized labour. The organization took as its symbol a burning cross and held rallies, parades and marches around the country. By 1920, Klan membership exceeded 4 million people nationwide.

The cases of Klan in relation to violence became more isolated in the decades to come. However, the group was fragmented and became aligned with neo-Nazi or other right-wing extremist organizations from the 1970. In the early 1990s, the Klan was estimated to have between 6,000 and 10,000 active members, mostly in the Deep South.

Source: http://www.history.com/topics/ku-klux-klan