How long has the kkk been in existence

Dressed up in scary costumes with hoods and masks, members rode about at night threatening and frightening blacks. They demanded that blacks either vote Democrat or not vote at all. They met defiance with beatings, whippings and sometimes murder. In he said that the Klan had well over , members in the southern states, but that he was not involved.

The "Kuklux Clan" is formed by six Confederate veterans from Pulaski, Tennessee, to resist federal Reconstruction efforts and maintain white supremacy across the South.

The name, which is a combination of the Greek word "kyklos," meaning circle, and "clan," soon evolves into the more familiar "Ku Klux Klan. Despite efforts to establish a national organizational hierarchy, and the claim of former General Nathan Bedford Forrest to be the organization's "Grand Wizard" and national leader, the Klan remains highly decentralized and secretive.

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If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives. After the United States Civil War devastated the country, President Abraham Lincoln aimed to reunite the nation as quickly as possible. Before the war even ended he had created a plan referred to as Reconstruction.

However, a week after the war ended, Lincoln was assassinated and Andrew Johnson was sworn in as President. Black codes were established in many states that curtailed the rights of African Americans. Congress responded with the Civil Rights Act of , but that did not prevent states from passing discriminatory legislation. Investigate this complex period of national rebuilding and retrenchment further with these resources.

After the United States Civil War, state governments that had been part of the Confederacy tried to limit the voting rights of black citizens and prevent contact between black and white citizens in public places.

The organization of the Ku Klux Klan coincided with the beginning of the second phase of post- Civil War Reconstruction , put into place by the more radical members of the Republican Party in Congress. From onward, Black participation in public life in the South became one of the most radical aspects of Reconstruction, as Black people won election to southern state governments and even to the U. For its part, the Ku Klux Klan dedicated itself to an underground campaign of violence against Republican leaders and voters both Black and white in an effort to reverse the policies of Radical Reconstruction and restore white supremacy in the South.

They were joined in this struggle by similar organizations such as the Knights of the White Camelia launched in Louisiana in and the White Brotherhood. At least 10 percent of the Black legislators elected during the constitutional conventions became victims of violence during Reconstruction, including seven who were killed.

By , the Ku Klux Klan had branches in nearly every southern state. Even at its height, the Klan did not boast a well-organized structure or clear leadership. Klan activity flourished particularly in the regions of the South where Black people were a minority or a small majority of the population, and was relatively limited in others.

Among the most notorious zones of Klan activity was South Carolina , where in January masked men attacked the Union county jail and lynched eight Black prisoners. In the regions where most Klan activity took place, local law enforcement officials either belonged to the Klan or declined to take action against it, and even those who arrested accused Klansmen found it difficult to find witnesses willing to testify against them.

After , 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 For the first time, the Ku Klux Klan Act designated certain crimes committed by individuals as federal offenses, including conspiracies to deprive citizens of the right to hold office, serve on juries and enjoy the equal protection of the law.

The act authorized the president to suspend the writ of habeas corpus and arrest accused individuals without charge, and to send federal forces to suppress Klan violence. This expansion of federal authority—which Ulysses S.

Grant promptly used in to crush Klan activity in South Carolina and other areas of the South—outraged Democrats and even alarmed many Republicans. From the early s onward, white supremacy gradually reasserted its hold on the South as support for Reconstruction waned; by the end of , the entire South was under Democratic control once again.