Those responsible were not brought to justice very often, and Klan members knew that their friends in the courts would not find them guilty. It was difficult for the government to change the attitudes of white people in the south and politicians were scared of losing votes. In David Stephenson, the Klan Indiana Grand Dragon, was found guilty of causing serious injuries to a woman on a train in Chicago.
The Ku Klux Klan was first formed in , through the efforts of a small band of Confederate veterans in Tennessee. Quickly expanding from a localized membership, the KKK has become perhaps the most resonant representation of white supremacy and racial terror in the U.
Part of the KKK's enduring draw is that it refers not to a single organization, but rather to a collection of groups bound by use of now-iconic racist symbols -- white hoods, flowing sheets, fiery crosses -- and a predilection for vigilante violence.
The Klan's following has tended to rise and fall in cycles often referred to as "waves. The Klan's second -- and largest -- wave peaked in the s, with KKK membership numbering in the millions. Following the second-wave Klan 's dissolution in the early s, self-identified KKK groups also built sizable followings during the s, in reaction to the rising Civil Rights Movement.
Various incarnations have continued to mobilize since -- often through blended affiliations with neo-Nazi, neo-Confederate, and Christian Identity organizations -- but in small numbers and without significant impact on mainstream politics. Beginning in , Jones took over the North Carolina leadership of the South's preeminent KKK organization, the United Klans of America, and by his "Carolina Klan" boasted more than 10, members across the state, more than the rest of the South combined.
Jones' story illuminates our understanding of the KKK's long history generally, and in particular provides a lens to consider the questions that follow. How big a threat is the KKK in the U. In an important sense, this may be the key question about the KKK and whether we should still worry, or care, about the Klan today.
Likely for that reason, literally every discussion I've had about the Klan -- whether in classrooms, community events, radio interviews, or cocktail parties -- comes around to some version of this concern.
I typically respond, in short, that a greater number of KKK organizations exist today than at any other point in the group's long history, but that nearly all of these groups are small, marginal, and lacking in meaningful political or social influence. I might add two caveats to that reassuring portrait, however. The first is that marginal, isolated extremist cells themselves can become breeding grounds for unpredictable violence.
At the peak of his s influence, Bob Jones would often tell reporters that, if they were truly concerned about violence perpetrated by Klan members, their greatest fear should be that he would disband the KKK, leaving individual members to commit mayhem free from the structure imposed by the group. As Jones' followers committed hundreds of terrorist acts authorized by KKK leadership, his claim was of course disingenuous, but it also contained a grain of truth: Jones and his fellow leaders did dissuade members -- many of whom combined rabid racism with unstable aggression -- from engaging in violence not approved by the KKK hierarchy.
In the absence of a broader organization with much to lose from a crack-down by authorities, racist violence can be much more difficult to prevent or police. The second caveat stems from KKK's history of emerging and receding in pronounced "waves. But in each case, some "reborn" version of the KKK has managed to rebound and survive.
So, while today the KKK appears an anachronism and, perhaps, less of a threat than other brands of racist hate, we still should vigilantly oppose racist entrepreneurs who seek to exploit the historical cachet of the KKK to organize new campaigns advancing white supremacist ends.
To me, this is one primary lesson from the KKK's past, and a compelling reason not to forget or dismiss the enduring relevance of that history. He asked if they desired to have the printed message read to the congregation; the robed figures bowed and stood mute as the minister read as follows: —. We who stand thus silently before you are more than a million strong; we are friends of this minister, this church, and this congregation; we stand for the Christian religion, for the protection of womanhood and for the everlasting supremacy of the white race.
As such we most earnestly ask your friendship and your prayers. Similar dispatches were published from a number of places. These men walked into a place of worship. They stopped the services of the church. They stalked down the aisle and handed a message to the preacher. Would four citizens have done it who were not masked? Hidden behind masks, they interfered with the solemn worship in the House of God and asked to be prayed for because they were a million strong.
Since when has Southern womanhood needed to be defended by men in masks? Must the men of the South clothe themselves in sheets and cover their faces with masks in order to defend their homes? Turner, in a special charge to the Bowie County grand jury, directed that an investigation be made of the activities of masked men in the county, with special attention to the case of a party which on the night of February 11, obtained P.
Norman, a negro, from the custody of Deputy Sheriff W. Jordan, and lynched him. In his charge to the jury Judge Turner declared that there was now more lawlessness in Bowie County than ever before during the fifty years he had sat on the bench; and he denounced the Ku Klux Klan as an enemy of constituted government.
He did not charge that the Ku Klux Klan had any connection with the activities of the masked men, but declared that the very nature of the organization opens the way for any lawless element to operate, seemingly with very little molestation. It is proper to say that the Klan has denied its responsibility for this crime. But whether such denial be true or not, there is no escape from the moral responsibility for the acts so committed; and I have heard of no criminal in the garb of the Klan who has been brought to justice by the Klan, who alone can know whether he is a member of the Klan or not.
The Grand Wizard is profuse in assurances that the Klan will assist officers of the law. When officers of the law in any community become so helpless and impotent that they have to be backed up by sheeted Klansmen at night, that community is in a bad way. The garb of the Klan does not lend itself to uphold the law; it never was devised for that purpose. The men who first devised it devised it to conceal their identity when doing the lawless deeds that they felt justified in doing.
Men who are aiding officers of the law in doing a right thing do not disguise themselves and go about after nightfall. This organization tries a man on hear-say evidence, without giving him an opportunity of being confronted by his accusers, and without lawful authority proceeds to enforce its judgments.
The foundation-stone of government and constitutional liberty in our land is the right of a man to be confronted by his accusers and to hear the evidence brought against him. This organization poses as the representative and sole defender of Protestant Americanism. Its methods bear no semblance to those of any government except Bolshevist Russia.
A decree of the Ku Klux Klan, handed down by Simmons of Atlanta, is as abhorrent to democracy and Americanism as a decree of the Soviet government handed out by Lenin. One is as much a menace to orderly government as the other. Either is a menace to law, order, and freedom.
The early KKK dissolved in the s, partly because of federal laws but also because its goals had been met. Then, in the early 20 th century, the KKK was revived. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.
The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. Tyson Brown, National Geographic Society. National Geographic Society. For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format.
When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource. If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service.
Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives. After the United States Civil War devastated the country, President Abraham Lincoln aimed to reunite the nation as quickly as possible.
Before the war even ended he had created a plan referred to as Reconstruction. However, a week after the war ended, Lincoln was assassinated and Andrew Johnson was sworn in as President.
Black codes were established in many states that curtailed the rights of African Americans. Congress responded with the Civil Rights Act of , but that did not prevent states from passing discriminatory legislation.
0コメント