My name: kristian henriksen
Main topic: prejudices
My topic: Ku Klux Klan
Why did I choose this topic?
I chose this topic because I find it very exciting. The Ku Klux Klan is a very interesting group and it has an exciting but also terrifying history. I also chose it because I would like to know more about the group and its members.
What is the Ku Klux Klan:
The Ku Klux Klan started after the Civil War with a group of white Southerners who were very angry when the war ended. They were angry because the Blacks had won their freedom from slavery and they had lost their slaves. No more slavery meant their lives had changed and they felt threatened.

The creation of the Ku Klux Klan: the beginning of the Ku Klux Klan was innocent enough. In December 1865, eight months after the South’s surrender, a group of six young men living in the village of Pulaski near Nashville, Tennessee decided to relieve their boredom by organizing a social club. The name of the group was hard to decide. One man, Richard R. Reed, suggested the word kuklos, meaning circle and cycle. Then Captain John B. Kennedy, who had an ear for alliteration (words starting with the same sound), added the word Clan. After some tinkering the group came up with the name Ku Klux Klan. Their meetings would be secret and devoted to elaborate ceremonies. Members would disguise themselves with a costume made up of a sheet to cover their bodies, fanciful masks to hide their faces and pointed headgear that heightened their stature. Although their motives may have been innocent, the appearance of these white-sheeted, horse-mounted apparitions on the town’s darkened streets triggered a panic-driven flight for safety by the community’s recently freed slaves. Soon, terrorizing Blacks became a prime sport and the transition of the KKK from an innocuous social club to a ruthless vigilance committee began.
Transmitted by word-of-mouth and newspaper articles; knowledge of the Klan rapidly spread through the South. Post-war conditions in the former Confederacy were chaotic. The rapid expansion of the Klan was fueled by a wide-spread fear among many Southern Whites of an insurrection by former slaves and seething resentment against Northern “carpet-baggers” who had invaded the South since the end of the war. Local organizations mimicking the original group’s secrecy and costumes sprang up in various communities. It wasn’t long before the Klan evolved into one of the South’s most powerful organizations. However, there was no hierarchal chain of command – merely a loose-knit association of independent local groups that shared common goals and tactics. Former slaves and carpet-baggers were favorite targets for intimidation backed up by violent night-time raids that could end in death.
The KKK’s reign was short-lived, its decline hastened by the revulsion of many southerners to its extreme methods and suppression by local governments. By 1868, its power was beginning to wane. In 1871 Congress passed the Klu Klux Klan Act that authorized the use of federal troops in the Klan’s suppression and for the trial of its members in federal court. The Klan began slowly melting away
The members of the Ku Klux Klan:
William Joseph Simmons
General Nathan Bedford Forrest
Forrest is recognized to have been a Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. He did not support lynching by KKK members and believed that the Klan was a noble and honorable group. Forrest was troubled when the Klan’s actions changed from its original purpose as a helpful and admirable group. For these reasons he called for the Klan to disband. He died on October 29, 1877.
The Ku Klux Klan today:
As the years went by, the Klan was getting weaker and weaker because the Blacks were getting stronger and stronger. Also the police forces got better around the mid 1940’s. Many tried to bring the KKK back to full strength, but they failed. The Ku Klux Klan thought maybe they needed a new leader, but after a new leader and his death in 1949 the Klan got even smaller and was never as strong as they were in their first few years. Now there are still Klan members, but very few of them are still active because the kinds of violence they participated in before the 1940’s would be severely punished today.
Racism in Denmark:
White pride
My own opinion:
Mississippi Burning:
Mississippi Burning is movie that’s based on true incidents. It is about the segregation and racism in the
Southern States and a great example of KKKs racist actions. I think it is an absolutely brilliant movie! It puts an amazing picture of all the thoughts we have of what happened “over there, back then”. Furthermore it is a very emotional movie, which really touches something inside of one.

Websites: http://history-world.org/ku_klux_klan.htm http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/kkk.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112391/ku_klux_klan.htm