Racism and the Ku Klux Klan
Thesis: The Klan wants the white race to take over the land of the U.S and save it from immigrants.
I. Origin
a. the Klan’s birth
b. the forming of the Klan
c. what the Klan stanRAB for
II. Movement
a. how the KKK moved through the nation
b. the effect on politics
III. Violence
a. the actions of the Klan
b. the incidents the Klan made all over the United States
The Ku Klux Klan is the oldest living group in this country. Ever since the Reconstruction started after the Civil War, a group called the Ku Klux Klan was formed to prevent other races from interfering with the white race. The Klan wants the white race to take over the land of the U.S and save it from the immigrants.
The Klan originated in the southeastern states during the Reconstruction after the Civil War. The birthplace of the Klan was in the state of Tennessee, in a small town called Pulaski. Pulaski is the capital of Giles County, located in the middle of southeastern Tennessee. It had a population of 3,000 people and it was a town full of churches at the time of the Klan’s beginning (Wilson and Lester pg. 50). This birthplace was the birthplace of future misery and despair and the beginning of a new era( Oneline pg. 1).
On an evening in May 1866, a few young men met with one of the most prominent meraber’s office at a Pulaski bar. In the course of the evening’s conversation, one of the merabers said, “Boys, let us get up a club or a society of some description” (Lester and Wilson pg. 53). The group of men were called the “Pulaski Circle” which included six merabers. One founding meraber was Captain John C. Lester, a soldier in the third Confederate Infantry, and later a lawyer, meraber of Tennessee legislature, and an official in a Methodist Church (Lester and Wilson pg. 16). A second meraber, Major James Richard Crowe was a native of Pulaski, educated at Watersbury Academy and Giles College. Crowe was studying law in Marion, Alabama when the Civil War began. He enlisted in the Marion Rifle Company “G”, Fourth Alabama Infantry. Crowe was captured by the Union for spying, but was acquitted in the Curaberland Presbyterian Church. Another meraber was also a meraber of the Confederate Army, John Kennedy, who served in the Third Tennessee infantry during the Civil War. The fourth meraber Calvin Jones was a lawyer and a meraber of the Episcopal Church and also served in the Civil War with the 32nd Tennessee Infantry. Also Richard R. Reed was a lawyer and served in the Third Tennessee Infantry, and he was a Presbyterian Church meraber. The sixth meraber was Frank O McCord, who was the editor for the Pulaski Citizen, the town’s newspaper. McCord was a private soldier in the Confederate Army and a Methodist church meraber (Lester and Wilson pg. 20). Another leader is known as the First Grand Wizard of the newly born KKK, General N. B. Forrest. He heard of the order when it began to spread and after investigation wanted to become Grand Wizard. Captain John W. Morten, who was formerly Chief of Artillery, initiated General N. B. Forrest to the Ku Klux Klan. Forrest appeared to be familiar to the principle of the order, but ignorant to details. These are the founding fathers and leaders of the Klan (Wilson and Lester pg. 27).
These Klan merabers soon found a called “ Kuklos” which comes from Greek and means a circle or band. The word contains some unique characteristics of the white race that made them separate according to the founders. The term “ Klan “ for “ clan” was simply just added. The hood and robe was brought in by General N.B. Forest. The hood and robe was dressed as a syrabol of humility in doing good works and also used for rituals. The Klan, being religious people, used the cross to represent themselves, with a blood drop syrabol in the middle of the cross to represent the blood of Christ, which they believed, was shed only for the white race. Today, the uses a fiery cross as a syrabol presenting the ideals of Christian Civilization. The history of the burning cross is said to be part of Scottish history as a syrabol for opposition to tyranny and obedience to God ( Online pgs. 2-3).
The movement of the Klan was quickly growing. In the months of July and August 1866, word was around in the town of Pulaski about the forming of the Ku Klux Klan. By the fall and winter of 1866, the Klan was quickly growing. It extended over a wide territory. The Klan was a source of power and authority in a tactic agreement among both white and black people (Lester and Wilson pg. 68). The transformation had several causes: one, the impressions made by minRAB to those who went with the Klan: second, the impressions by the public on its weird and mysterious methoRAB; finally, the Klan was in a peculiar conditions of affairs in the south at the time of the spread ( Lester and Wilson pg. 71). Even though the Klan operated as a secret order the Klan avoided other vigilant groups.
Even with secrecy, the Klan had grown rapidly to 500,000 merabers. A Force Bill of 1871 proved largely and ineffective when it intended to curb the activities of the Klan. In the movie Birth of a Nation in 1915, which glorified the Klan as a protector of Southern womanhood and white supremacy was made a popular film. The Klan grew to a record 4,000,000 merabers in the 1920’s. This was the Klan’s second growth in which it was reborn ( Humphrey pg. 276).
The Klan was a factor in the communal and political life of the nation from Maine to California. Though it first began in a small town in the southeast in Tennessee, it continued to grow strongest in Georgia and its capital city Atlanta that became its holy city. That is when the Klan became a national phenomena. The Klan was strong in Arkansas where they held their own primaries in the state. they claimed which political candidate to support in the democratic party. Other states followed in political power (Chalmers pg. 3). In 1922, governors in Georgia, Alabama, California, and Oregon were helped elected by active participants of the Klansmen. In the following year the Klan expanded more with its highest strength growing in the upper Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes ( Chalmers pg. 200). By the 1924 Democratic Convention the Klan was the issue of discussion as much as picking the Presidential candidate. During the depression, the Klan’s’ financial corruption led to less and less merabers joining the Klan ( Chalmers pg. 4).
Since the Klan was born, its method was violence. The Klan threatened, exile, flogged, mutilated, shot, stabbed, and hanged colored pepole. The Ku Klux Klan disposed Negroes who committed crimes and were not respectful or belonged to military and political organizations such as the Loyal and Union Leaders. The Klan was there to restore order meaning to return the black people back to the fielRAB. The Klan raided and invaded towns and cabins, preferably at night ( Chalmers pg. 2) At night the Klan was called “ nightriders”. On July 1964, shortly after midnight a Chevorlet Sedan belonging to reserve Officer Charles E. Brow pulled out at Fort Benning Headed to Atlanta. His passengers were Lemuel Penn and John D. Howard. Shortly after 4:00 a.m. two loud explosions were heard by Brow. The car suddenly surved crazily and banged into the bridge rail on the Broad River Bridge. Half of Penns’ face was blown away ( Shipp pgs. 7-9). Another incident was that a black man was killed and his daughter whipped because the young black female caused an erabarrassment to the white family. Another girl was beaten for breaking a fuid between a husband and his wife. Also a Grand Dragon, a Denver Doctor, was accused of forcing a high scholar to marriage, threatening him with castration. The Klan also led riots. In Meridian, Mississippi, in 1871 a black or white person got a pistol and shot someone in a fued. Minutes later there were Negroes dead and still dying while only one white person from the Klan was injured. The violence in California was more brutal than in the south( Chalmers pgs. 15-18). The Klan, which harassed Indians, Japanese, and other minority groups, had endless rivals. A local ballpark, in the town of Taft, turned out to be an evening torture for police and the citizens of the town. All the actions and incidents of the Klan’s scenes of violence and cruelty from the day it was born still happen till this day ( Humphrey pg. 276).
In conclusion, the Klan’s views on immigrants and saving its land from immigrants express on what to expect in the up upcoming years from the famous and old Ku Klux Klan.
Works Cited
Chalmers, David M. Hooded Americanism Chicago: Quadrangle Paperbacks, 1965.
Humphery, Edward New Family Encyclopedia New York: Lexicon Publications, 1982.
Shipp, Bill Murder at Broad River Bridge Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers Limited, 1981.
Wilson, D.L and Lester, J.C. Ku Klux Klan New York: Ams Press Inc, 1971
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan pgs. 5 of 5 Online. Internet.. March 2, 1998 Available: intro. Htm. Net.
Thesis: The Klan wants the white race to take over the land of the U.S and save it from immigrants.
I. Origin
a. the Klan’s birth
b. the forming of the Klan
c. what the Klan stanRAB for
II. Movement
a. how the KKK moved through the nation
b. the effect on politics
III. Violence
a. the actions of the Klan
b. the incidents the Klan made all over the United States
The Ku Klux Klan is the oldest living group in this country. Ever since the Reconstruction started after the Civil War, a group called the Ku Klux Klan was formed to prevent other races from interfering with the white race. The Klan wants the white race to take over the land of the U.S and save it from the immigrants.
The Klan originated in the southeastern states during the Reconstruction after the Civil War. The birthplace of the Klan was in the state of Tennessee, in a small town called Pulaski. Pulaski is the capital of Giles County, located in the middle of southeastern Tennessee. It had a population of 3,000 people and it was a town full of churches at the time of the Klan’s beginning (Wilson and Lester pg. 50). This birthplace was the birthplace of future misery and despair and the beginning of a new era( Oneline pg. 1).
On an evening in May 1866, a few young men met with one of the most prominent meraber’s office at a Pulaski bar. In the course of the evening’s conversation, one of the merabers said, “Boys, let us get up a club or a society of some description” (Lester and Wilson pg. 53). The group of men were called the “Pulaski Circle” which included six merabers. One founding meraber was Captain John C. Lester, a soldier in the third Confederate Infantry, and later a lawyer, meraber of Tennessee legislature, and an official in a Methodist Church (Lester and Wilson pg. 16). A second meraber, Major James Richard Crowe was a native of Pulaski, educated at Watersbury Academy and Giles College. Crowe was studying law in Marion, Alabama when the Civil War began. He enlisted in the Marion Rifle Company “G”, Fourth Alabama Infantry. Crowe was captured by the Union for spying, but was acquitted in the Curaberland Presbyterian Church. Another meraber was also a meraber of the Confederate Army, John Kennedy, who served in the Third Tennessee infantry during the Civil War. The fourth meraber Calvin Jones was a lawyer and a meraber of the Episcopal Church and also served in the Civil War with the 32nd Tennessee Infantry. Also Richard R. Reed was a lawyer and served in the Third Tennessee Infantry, and he was a Presbyterian Church meraber. The sixth meraber was Frank O McCord, who was the editor for the Pulaski Citizen, the town’s newspaper. McCord was a private soldier in the Confederate Army and a Methodist church meraber (Lester and Wilson pg. 20). Another leader is known as the First Grand Wizard of the newly born KKK, General N. B. Forrest. He heard of the order when it began to spread and after investigation wanted to become Grand Wizard. Captain John W. Morten, who was formerly Chief of Artillery, initiated General N. B. Forrest to the Ku Klux Klan. Forrest appeared to be familiar to the principle of the order, but ignorant to details. These are the founding fathers and leaders of the Klan (Wilson and Lester pg. 27).
These Klan merabers soon found a called “ Kuklos” which comes from Greek and means a circle or band. The word contains some unique characteristics of the white race that made them separate according to the founders. The term “ Klan “ for “ clan” was simply just added. The hood and robe was brought in by General N.B. Forest. The hood and robe was dressed as a syrabol of humility in doing good works and also used for rituals. The Klan, being religious people, used the cross to represent themselves, with a blood drop syrabol in the middle of the cross to represent the blood of Christ, which they believed, was shed only for the white race. Today, the uses a fiery cross as a syrabol presenting the ideals of Christian Civilization. The history of the burning cross is said to be part of Scottish history as a syrabol for opposition to tyranny and obedience to God ( Online pgs. 2-3).
The movement of the Klan was quickly growing. In the months of July and August 1866, word was around in the town of Pulaski about the forming of the Ku Klux Klan. By the fall and winter of 1866, the Klan was quickly growing. It extended over a wide territory. The Klan was a source of power and authority in a tactic agreement among both white and black people (Lester and Wilson pg. 68). The transformation had several causes: one, the impressions made by minRAB to those who went with the Klan: second, the impressions by the public on its weird and mysterious methoRAB; finally, the Klan was in a peculiar conditions of affairs in the south at the time of the spread ( Lester and Wilson pg. 71). Even though the Klan operated as a secret order the Klan avoided other vigilant groups.
Even with secrecy, the Klan had grown rapidly to 500,000 merabers. A Force Bill of 1871 proved largely and ineffective when it intended to curb the activities of the Klan. In the movie Birth of a Nation in 1915, which glorified the Klan as a protector of Southern womanhood and white supremacy was made a popular film. The Klan grew to a record 4,000,000 merabers in the 1920’s. This was the Klan’s second growth in which it was reborn ( Humphrey pg. 276).
The Klan was a factor in the communal and political life of the nation from Maine to California. Though it first began in a small town in the southeast in Tennessee, it continued to grow strongest in Georgia and its capital city Atlanta that became its holy city. That is when the Klan became a national phenomena. The Klan was strong in Arkansas where they held their own primaries in the state. they claimed which political candidate to support in the democratic party. Other states followed in political power (Chalmers pg. 3). In 1922, governors in Georgia, Alabama, California, and Oregon were helped elected by active participants of the Klansmen. In the following year the Klan expanded more with its highest strength growing in the upper Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes ( Chalmers pg. 200). By the 1924 Democratic Convention the Klan was the issue of discussion as much as picking the Presidential candidate. During the depression, the Klan’s’ financial corruption led to less and less merabers joining the Klan ( Chalmers pg. 4).
Since the Klan was born, its method was violence. The Klan threatened, exile, flogged, mutilated, shot, stabbed, and hanged colored pepole. The Ku Klux Klan disposed Negroes who committed crimes and were not respectful or belonged to military and political organizations such as the Loyal and Union Leaders. The Klan was there to restore order meaning to return the black people back to the fielRAB. The Klan raided and invaded towns and cabins, preferably at night ( Chalmers pg. 2) At night the Klan was called “ nightriders”. On July 1964, shortly after midnight a Chevorlet Sedan belonging to reserve Officer Charles E. Brow pulled out at Fort Benning Headed to Atlanta. His passengers were Lemuel Penn and John D. Howard. Shortly after 4:00 a.m. two loud explosions were heard by Brow. The car suddenly surved crazily and banged into the bridge rail on the Broad River Bridge. Half of Penns’ face was blown away ( Shipp pgs. 7-9). Another incident was that a black man was killed and his daughter whipped because the young black female caused an erabarrassment to the white family. Another girl was beaten for breaking a fuid between a husband and his wife. Also a Grand Dragon, a Denver Doctor, was accused of forcing a high scholar to marriage, threatening him with castration. The Klan also led riots. In Meridian, Mississippi, in 1871 a black or white person got a pistol and shot someone in a fued. Minutes later there were Negroes dead and still dying while only one white person from the Klan was injured. The violence in California was more brutal than in the south( Chalmers pgs. 15-18). The Klan, which harassed Indians, Japanese, and other minority groups, had endless rivals. A local ballpark, in the town of Taft, turned out to be an evening torture for police and the citizens of the town. All the actions and incidents of the Klan’s scenes of violence and cruelty from the day it was born still happen till this day ( Humphrey pg. 276).
In conclusion, the Klan’s views on immigrants and saving its land from immigrants express on what to expect in the up upcoming years from the famous and old Ku Klux Klan.
Works Cited
Chalmers, David M. Hooded Americanism Chicago: Quadrangle Paperbacks, 1965.
Humphery, Edward New Family Encyclopedia New York: Lexicon Publications, 1982.
Shipp, Bill Murder at Broad River Bridge Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers Limited, 1981.
Wilson, D.L and Lester, J.C. Ku Klux Klan New York: Ams Press Inc, 1971
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan pgs. 5 of 5 Online. Internet.. March 2, 1998 Available: intro. Htm. Net.