"KKK" and "Klansman" redirect here. For other uses, see Clansman (disambiguation) and KKK (disambiguation).
Ku Klux Klan
The Duke Flag, used by some in the Third Klan and named after former Klan leader David Duke. The Blood Drop Cross is shown in the centre.[1]
In existence
First Klan: 1865–1872
Second Klan: 1915–1944
Third Klan: 1946/1950–present
Founded in
Pulaski, Tennessee, U.S. (first Klan) Stone Mountain, Georgia, U.S. (second and third Klans)
Members
First Klan: Unknown
Second Klan: c. 3 million – 6 million[2] (peaked in 1924–1925)
Third Klan: c. 5,000–8,000[3]
Political ideologies
Anti-black racism
White supremacy
White nationalism
Vigilantism
Segregationism[a]
Christian terrorism[5][6]
Neo-Confederatism
After 1915:
Nordicism
Christian Identity[7]
Right-wing populism
Social conservatism[b]
Antisemitism[22][23][24][25][26][27][28]
Anti-immigration
Anti-communism
Anti-atheism[29][30][31][32]
Anti-Catholicism[33][34][35]
After 1950:
Anti-miscegenation
Anti-trade unionism
Neo-Fascism
Neo-Nazism
Anti-globalization
Islamophobia[36][37][38]
Political position
Far-right
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v
t
e
The Ku Klux Klan (/ˌkuːklʌksˈklæn,ˌkjuː-/),[c] commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is the name of several historical and current American white supremacist, far-right terrorist organizations and hate groups. According to historian Fergus Bordewich, the Klan was "the first organized terror movement in American history."[39][40] Their primary targets at various times have been African Americans, Jews, and Catholics.
Three separate Klans have existed in three non-overlapping time periods. Each comprised local chapters with little or no central direction. Each has advocated extremist reactionary positions such as white nationalism, anti-immigration and—especially in later iterations—Nordicism, antisemitism, anti-Catholicism, Prohibition, right-wing populism, anti-communism, homophobia, anti-atheism, and Islamophobia. The first Klan, founded by Confederate veterans in the late 1860s,[41] assaulted and murdered politically active Black people and their allies in the South. The second iteration of the Klan originated in the late 1910s, and was the first to use cross burnings and white-hooded robes. The KKK of the 1920s had a nationwide membership in the millions and reflected a cross-section of the native-born white population.[42] The third Klan formed in the mid 20th century, largely as a reaction to the growing civil rights movement. It committed murders and bombings to achieve its aims. All three movements have called for the "purification" of American society, and are all considered far-right extremist organizations. In each era, membership was secret and estimates of the total were highly exaggerated by both friends and enemies.
The first Klan, established in the wake of the Civil War, was a defining organization of the Reconstruction era. Federal law enforcement began taking action against it around 1871. The Klan sought to overthrow Republican state governments in the South, especially by using voter intimidation and targeted violence against African-American leaders. The Klan was organized into numerous independent chapters across the Southern United States. Each chapter was autonomous and highly secretive about membership and plans. Members made their own, often colorful, costumes: robes, masks and pointed hats, designed to be terrifying and to hide their identities.
The second Klan started in 1915 as a small group in Georgia. It suddenly started to grow after 1920 and flourished nationwide in the early and mid-1920s, including urban areas of the Midwest and West. Taking inspiration from D. W. Griffith's 1915 silent film The Birth of a Nation, which mythologized the founding of the first Klan, it employed marketing techniques and a popular fraternal organization structure. Rooted in local Protestant communities, it sought to maintain white supremacy, often took a pro-Prohibition stance, and it opposed Jews, while also stressing its opposition to the alleged political power of the pope and the Catholic Church. This second Klan flourished both in the south and northern states; it was funded by initiation fees and selling its members a standard white costume. The chapters did not have dues. It used K-words which were similar to those used by the first Klan, while adding cross burnings and mass parades to intimidate others. It rapidly declined in the latter half of the 1920s.
The third and current manifestation of the KKK emerged after 1950, in the form of localized and isolated groups that use the KKK name. They have focused on opposition to the civil rights movement, often using violence and murder to suppress activists. This manifestation is classified as a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center.[43] As of 2016[update], the Anti-Defamation League puts total KKK membership nationwide at around 3,000, while the Southern Poverty Law Center puts it at 6,000 members total.[44]
The second and third incarnations of the Ku Klux Klan made frequent references to a false mythologized perception of America's "Anglo-Saxon" blood, hearkening back to 19th-century nativism.[45] Although members of the KKK swear to uphold "Christian morality", Christian denominations widely denounce them.[46]
^"Historical Flags of Our Ancestors – Flags of Extremism – Part 1 (a-m)". www.loeser.us. Archived from the original on January 12, 2021. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
^McVeigh, Rory. "Structural Incentives for Conservative Mobilization: Power Devaluation and the Rise of the Ku Klux Klan, 1915–1925". Social Forces, Vol. 77, No. 4 (June 1999), p. 1463.
^"Ku Klux Klan". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on July 23, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
^Blow, Charles M. (January 7, 2016). "Gun Control and White Terror" Archived March 4, 2022, at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
^Al-Khattar, Aref M. (2003). Religion and terrorism: an interfaith perspective. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger. pp. 21, 30, 55.
^Michael, Robert, and Philip Rosen. Dictionary of antisemitism from the earliest times to the present. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1997, p. 267.[ISBN missing]
^Barkun, pp. 60–85.
^Pegram 2011, pp. 47–88.
^Dibranco, Alex (February 3, 2020). "The Long History of the Anti-Abortion Movement's Links to White Supremacists". The Nation. Archived from the original on June 2, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2020. In 1985, the KKK began creating wanted posters listing personal information for abortion providers (doxing before the Internet age) ... Groups like the Confederate Knights of the Ku Klux Klan trafficked in rhetoric that mirrored that of the anti-abortion movement—with an anti-Semitic twist: 'More than ten million white babies have been murdered through Jewish-engineered legalized abortion since 1973 here in America and more than a million per year are being slaughtered this way.'
^"Ku Klux Klan distributes homophobic, antisemitic flyers targeting school board in Virginia". Archived from the original on July 1, 2021. Police in Virginia are investigating a series of violently antisemitic and homophobic flyers targeting a local school board that were distributed by a white supremacist group affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Flyers denouncing the school board in Fairfax, Va., as 'Jew-inspired, communist, queer-loving sex fiends violating the words of the Holy Bible' were discovered on Wednesday
^"Ku Klux Klan rallies against homosexuals in Lancaster". United Press International. August 24, 1991. Archived from the original on July 4, 2021.
^"Ku Klux Klan supports Alabama chief Justice Rory Moore's attempts to stop gay marriage". Independent. February 13, 2015. Archived from the original on July 5, 2021.
^"Ku Klux Klan distributes anti-transgender fliers in at least 1 Alabama neighborhood". May 24, 2016. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
^"KKK Allegedly Threatens Gay Political Candidate in Florida". NBC News. August 31, 2017. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
^"Ku Klux Klan plans rally to support anti-gay counseling student". LGBTQ Nation. October 5, 2010. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
^"KKK to Floridians: End AIDS by 'bashing gays'". LGBTQ Nation. November 23, 2015. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
^"Ku Klux Klan Rallies In Ellijay, GA – Condemns Homosexuals, Illegal Immigrants, Black Americans and Others". September 13, 2010. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
^"KKK members protest LGBTQ pride march in Florence". June 13, 2017. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
^"Ku Klux Klan plans rally to support anti-gay counseling student". LGBTQ Nation. October 5, 2010. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
^"Mississippi KKK leader defends post-Orlando anti-gay leaflets". CBS News. June 22, 2016. Archived from the original on July 28, 2022. Retrieved June 22, 2016.
^"Klan leader calls for death for homosexuals". Tampa Bay Times. July 13, 1992. Archived from the original on July 28, 2022. 50 Klansmen, skinheads and supporters proclaimed gays and lesbians should receive the death penalty.
^"Ku Klux Klan Revived in South; Leader Says Organization Will Fight "kikes"". Jewish Telegraph Agency. United States. December 11, 1945. Archived from the original on June 21, 2023. A report to the World-Telegram today from Atlanta, Georgia, says that the Ku Klux Klan has resumed functioning there, with all its trappinge burning crosses, hoods and other KKK rituals – and quotes Grand Dragon Samuel Greens as stating that "we are not fighting Jews because of their religion. We are fighting the kikes, and-there are as many kikes among the Protestants as among the Jews." Active in the Klan revival is J.B.Stoner of Chattanooga who last year sent a petition to Congress reading: "I request, urge and petition you to pass a resolution recognizing the fact that the Jews are children of the devil and that, consequently, they constitute a grave danger to the United States of America."
^"Anti-Semitic and racist KKK fliers dropped in Philadelphia suburb". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on November 2, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
^"KKK drops antisemitic fliers in Florida to recruit members". October 18, 2017. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
^"KKK Flyers Threatening Blacks And Jews Found In Florida". The Forward. October 10, 2017. Archived from the original on October 21, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
^"Antisemitic, racist KKK fliers dropped in Cherry Hill, NJ". Jewish Ledger. October 16, 2018. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
^"Racist, antisemitic fliers dropped in Virginia neighborhood before MLK Day". January 16, 2018. Archived from the original on June 12, 2021.
^"Ku Klux Klan extends antisemitic campaign to Argentina". Jewish Telegraph Agency. March 20, 2015. Archived from the original on July 28, 2022.
^Laats, Adam (2012). "Red Schoolhouse, Burning Cross: The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and Educational Reform". History of Education Quarterly. 52 (3): 323–350. doi:10.1111/j.1748-5959.2012.00402.x. ISSN 0018-2680. JSTOR 23251451. S2CID 142780437. Archived from the original on December 25, 2022. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
^"Kingdom". Time. January 17, 1927. ISSN 0040-781X. Archived from the original on December 25, 2022. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
^"Ku Klux Klan Ledgers | History Colorado". www.historycolorado.org. Archived from the original on December 25, 2022. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
^"Principles and Purposes of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan". 1920. Archived from the original on November 27, 2022. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
^Kristin Dimick. "The Ku Klux Klan and the Anti-Catholic School Bills of Washington and Oregon". Archived from the original on May 14, 2022.
^Philip N. Racine (1973). "The Ku Klux Klan, Anti-Catholicism, and Atlanta's Board of Education, 1916–1927". The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 57 (1). Georgia Historical Society: 63–75. JSTOR 40579872. Archived from the original on July 28, 2022.
^Christine K. Erickson. The Boys in Butte: The Ku Klux Klan confronts the Catholics, 1923–1929 (MA thesis). University of Montana. Archived from the original on July 28, 2022.
^"Ku Klux Klan Fliers Promoting Islamophobia Found In Washington State Neighborhood". March 2, 2015. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
^"Alabama KKK actively recruiting to 'fight the spread of Islam'". December 10, 2015. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
^"In the Army and the Klan, he hated Muslims". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
^Fergus Bordewich. (2023). Klan War: Ulysses S Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction. Penguin Random House
^"The Untold Story of Grant vs. the KKK: A Deep Dive with Historian Fergus M. Bordewich". YouTube. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
^"Ku Klux Klan Established". Civil War on the Western Border: The Missouri-Kansas Conflict, 1855-1865. Digital History, Kansas City Public Library. Archived from the original on January 26, 2023. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
^"See the rise of the KKK in the U.S., 1915-1940". Mapping the Second Ku Klux Klan, 1915-1940. Archived from the original on October 13, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
^Both the Anti-Defamation League Archived October 3, 2012, at the Wayback Machine and the Southern Poverty Law Center Archived February 19, 2010, at the Wayback Machine include it in their lists of hate groups. See also Brian Levin, "Cyberhate: A Legal and Historical Analysis of Extremists' Use of Computer Networks in America", in Perry, Barbara (ed.), Hate and Bias Crime: A Reader Archived April 7, 2023, at the Wayback Machine, Routledge, 2003, p. 112.
^"At 150, KKK sees opportunities in US political trends". Archived from the original on July 1, 2016. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
^Newton 2001.
^Perlmutter, Philip (1999). Legacy of Hate: A Short History of Ethnic, Religious, and Racial Prejudice in America. M. E. Sharpe. p. 170. ISBN 978-0765604064. Kenneth T. Jackson, in his The Ku Klux Klan in the City 1915–1930, reminds us that 'virtually every' Protestant denomination denounced the KKK, but that most KKK members were not 'innately depraved or anxious to subvert American institutions', but rather believed their membership in keeping with 'one-hundred percent Americanism' and Christian morality.
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The KuKluxKlan (/ˌkuː klʌks ˈklæn, ˌkjuː-/), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is the name of several historical and current American white...
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