KKK founded
In Pulaski Tennessee a group of Confederate veterans convenes to form a secret society that they christen the Ku Klux Klan.The KKK rapidly grew from a secret social fraternity to a paramilitary force bent on reversing the federal governments progressive Reconstruction Era-activities in the South especially policies that elevated the rights of the local African American population.The name of the Ku Klux Klan was derived from the Greek word kyklos meaning circle and the Scottish-Gaelic word clan which was probably chosen for the sake of alliteration.Under a platform of philosophized white racial superiority the group employed violence as a means of pushing back Reconstruction and its enfranchisement of African Americans.
Former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest was the KKKs first grand wizard in 1869 he unsuccessfully tried to disband it after he grew critical of the Klans excessive violence.Most prominent in counties where the races were relatively balanced the KKK engaged in terrorist raids against African Americans and white Republicans at night employing intimidation destruction of property assault and murder to achieve its aims and influence upcoming elections.In a few Southern states Republicans organized militia units to break up the Klan.In 1871 the Ku Klux Act passed Congress authorizing President Ulysses S.
Grant to use military force to suppress the KKK.The Ku Klux Act resulted in nine South Carolina counties being placed under martial law and thousands of arrests.In 1882 the U.S.
Supreme Court declared the Ku Klux Act unconstitutional but by that time Reconstruction had ended and the KKK had faded away.The 20th century witnessed two revivals of the KKK one in response to immigration in the 1910s and 20s and another in response to the African American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.
