Running Head: KU KLUX KLAN

Ku Klux Klan and the Franciscan Values

Cardinal Stritch University

ASB-219

Bradley Houston

February 21, 2012

How does one determine if the organization known as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) either defies or embodies the Franciscan values Cardinal Stritch has in place for its students? In order to answer this question we must break down the KKK’s history and compare it to the values of the Franciscan tradition.
The Ku Klux Klan is a movement that has been very controversial since the Civil War. The Klan as they call themselves was created as a result of the occupation of Federal troops in the South. The KKK’s purpose at the time was to provide the people of the south with the leadership to bring back the values of Western Civilization that was taken from them. In the 1920’s the Klan had its most popular era. At this time the KKK was the most active politically then it has ever been in history. The people who believed in movement came together against the advancement of African Americans, Jews, and other minorities. The KKK members were very violent and used harsh actions to get their point across, but their actions were supported by their strong belief in their religion and the culture in which they were brought up in. The Klan did as it believed, they did what they thought was right and for their time period and acted in the way their culture brought them up to act. The name Ku Klux Klan comes from the Greek word kuklos, meaning circle. The oldest symbol of unity is a circle. The Klan represents itself as the "oldest American White civil rights group." The KKK's history has been split into five eras.
First Era
Former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest founded the First Era in 1866. The Klan was formed during the Reconstruction Era of United States history.