The Klu Klux Klan

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Ku Klux Klan
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• The history of the world is the fight for the
  survival of the White race. Either we win or we
  die. The Klan will not die

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• The Klan was and still is a secret terrorist
  organisation, who believed that black Americans
  were inferior and used terror and violence
  against blacks, Catholics and Jews to preserve
  the American way of life.

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Reappearance of KKK

• Originally founded to oppose the military
  occupation of the South after the civil war.
• The Klan had gone into decline.
• It was refounded in 1915 by William Simmons at
  Stone mountain Georgia.

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• It grew in popularity helped by a film Birth of a
  Nation which portrayed it as heroic.

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Lynching of Leo Franks

• The KKK claimed to defend WASP America from its
  enemies, blacks and all foreigners, Catholics and
  Jews.
• This man, Leo Franks was a Jew accused of raping
  a white woman. The Klan lynched him.

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• By 1925 it had 25 million members including some
  very influential men eg politicians.
• By 1929 membership had fallen to only 1 million.
• It was still able to influence politics and
  played a major role in the intimidation and
  maintaining the inferior status of blacks across
  the country.

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Organisation

• The Klan was led by a Grand Wizard
• Local klan organisations were called Klaverns.
• All members had to be native born Americans,
  white protestant males, 16 years or older.
• Klansmen wore robes or sheets and masks with
  pointed hoods.

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Why did support increase?

• Unemployment was growing.
• New immigrants and blacks were competing with
  poor whites for jobs.
• Poor whites saw the Klan as their protectors.
• The Klan saw black Americans as their main target.

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• Klansmen burned large crosses on hillsides to
  terrify the black population.
• They kidnapped, whipped, mutilated and murdered
  their victims.
• They marched through towns with posters
  threatening people with punishment if they didnt
  leave.
• They lynched black Americans

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• No one knows how many Klansmen there were but
  they were powerful had influential friends.
• They were powerful enough to march through
  Washington despite being an illegal organisation
• Few Klansmen were arrested and in some cases were
  helped by local officials including the police.

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