The Ku Klux Klan: Its History and a Method of Instilling Fear
While researching the Ku Klux Klan, I found a lot of interesting research related to the organization and its activities. The Ku Klux Klan founded in 1866, extended into almost every southern state by 1870 and became a vehicle for every white southern resistance to the Republican Party’s Reconstruction era policies aimed at establishing political and economic equality for blacks. Its members waged an underground campaign of intimidation and violence directed at white and black Republican leaders. Through congress passed legislation designed to Klan terrorism, the organization saw its primary goal the reestablishment of white supremacy fulfilled through Democratic victories in …show more content…
The first two words of the organization's name supposedly derived from the Greek word “Kyklos” meaning circle. In the summer of 1867, local branches of the Klan met in a general organizing convention and established what they called an “invisible Empires of the South”. Leading confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest was a chosen as the first leader or “grand wizard” of the Klan, he presided over a hierarchy of grand dragons, titans, and Cyclops. African American participation in public life in the south became one of the most radical aspects of Reconstructions. As blacks won election to southern state governments and even to the U.S. congress. The KKK dedicated itself to an underground campaign of violence against Republican leaders both black and white. They made an effort to reverse the policies of Radical Reconstruction and restore white supremacy in the …show more content…
Supreme Court Justice, a progressive U.S. Senator and able to trial attorney. Hugo was a member of the KKK in the 1920’s. 1923 Black was a trial attorney in Birmingham, Alabama, which at the time was controlled by members of the Klan. He joined the KKK on September 23, 1923. Black later claimed to have left the group after several years, but no clear evidence documented his departure. In 1937 there were allegations he had signed an undated letter resigning from the Klan, which was to have been used to establish a false resignation date if public scandal occurred. Hugo Black is remembered as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, a progressive U.S. Senator and able to trial attorney. Hugo was a member of the KKK in the 1920’s. 1923 Black was a trial attorney in Birmingham, Alabama, which at the time was controlled by members of the Klan. He joined the KKK on September 23, 1923. Black later claimed to have left the group after several years, but no clear evidence documented his departure. In 1937 there were allegations he had signed an undated letter resigning from the Klan, which was to have been used to establish a false resignation date if public scandal