Origins of the Ku Klux Klan and its Significance
Origins of the Ku Klux Klan and its Significance

Summary/Abstract: The Ku Klux Klan is America’s most infamous and historic white supremacist organization. Founded as an obscure Confederate organization for southern veterans of the Civil War, the Klan grew quickly in the aftermath of a war which took the lives of more than 633,000 people. At the time of its founding in 1866, virtually no one in the United States even heard of this organization. Yet by 1868, nearly all Americans learned of it. The Klan terrorized former slaves, raped women and attacked anyone too closely associated with the Republican Party and its political allies. They demanded that whites alone should govern the United States in general, and southern states in particular. The Ku Klux Klan even became the most powerful political force in some states for a while. Later it emerged in northern regions during the 1920s. They joined with other white nationalist groups in opposing immigration, opposing the Catholic Church, opposing equality for African Americans, and opposing modern values being taught in schools. What explains the rise of such an organization? How did it become so popular? What eventually drove people away from the Klan, making it a small and obscure grouping of organizations in the United States? This essay will examine these questions.

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