The Ku Klux Klan or KKK is one of America's oldest and most feared groups. Driven by the dream of a world with only one master race, the KKK often uses violence and takes the law into their own hands in order to promote their cause. They did not start as a violent group, or to promote white supremacy. At the end of the War Between the States in April of 1865, some felt it marked the beginning of a terrible time of trouble for the white citizens who remained loyal to the southern states. This infamous chapter of American history is known as the Reconstruction period. Although large portions of the South were untouched by military action during the war, the problems after the war touched all and were severe. Private homes and farms were burned and personal property seized. Some of the seized property was given to some of the newly freed slaves, who many feared would rise up in revolt at any moment. Many individual cases did occur, and the law turned a blind eye too often to be!

tolerated. It was a lawless time when street justice prevailed. It was out of these dismal conditions that just and "decent men" of honor came together forming the Ku Klux Klan.

s could afford. Even though it looked like everything was going all wrong for the KKK they stayed alive again. The north was almost totally diminished with the Klan. There were still some Klan rallies on Long Island, Hudson River Valley, cities in New Jersey, Ohio, and Michigan, but only at the most 1,000 Klan members in each area. Meanwhile in the south Klansmen still continued to resort to violence. Beating any whites who would cater to blacks. Also to ensure white supremacy, the KKK tried to keep blacks from voting. Klansmen would invade black sections of cities and leave messages on cards for blacks to stay away from the voting polls. By 1936, the Klan started calling communism the main enemy. During this depression Florida's Realm became the biggest KKK movement, with around 30,000 members, he Klan started to show light of coming back again. In the fall of 1946 the Klan burned another cross atop Stone Mountain. This was showing a sign of coming back for the Klan. From C!

social club. A year after the creation of the KKK, the one time social club joined the raising campaign against the Republican Reconstruction. The "new" direction of the Klan was well planned and organized. The Klan was now ready to expand to a bigger group. The Klan adopted a prescript. This was an organizational structure permitting the Klan to spread across the South. New members had to be over eighteen, pay one dollar, swear to secrecy, recruits also pledged to "protect the weak, the innocent, and the defenseless, from the indignities, wrongs, and outrages of the lawless, the violent, and the brutal." The highly centralized plan for expanding the KKK, spread so rapidly that most chapters operated alone. The founders of the KKK lost control, and it became impossible to talk about a single KKK. Yet Klan activities still followed a common pattern throughout the south. The Klan now started to spread across Tennessee. At first the Klan used tricks to keep blacks "in their plac!

4. The History of The Ku Klux Klan by Howard Zinn. Copyright 1980, 1995.

the late 1980's. Beginning in the mid-1970's, Ku Klux Klan groups began to apply a more respectable image. Some accepted women as members and set up youth groups. The KKK especially appealed to whites that resented both special programs designed to help blacks and job competition from blacks and recent immigrants. pproximately 15 separate organizations existed, including the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the United Klans of America, and the National Klan. The Klan was revived once again with renewed vigor in the late 1970s. It fragmented into several separate and competing groups, some of which allied themselves with neo-Nazi and other old-fashioned extremist groups. By the early 1990s, after being prosecuted for illegal activities, the Klan was estimated to have between 6,000 and 10,000 active members, mostly in the Deep South. After that the Klan went back and forth starting to gain members and then losing them again, starting to rally in certain areas but then dying out a!

1. Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know about American History but Never Learned by Kenneth

Some common words found in the essay are:
Invisible Empire, Klux Klan, Klan Klan, War April, Party Klan, Jewish Catholic, Republican Reconstruction, Reconstruction Klan, Klan Greek, Klan Meanwhile, klux klan, ku klux klan, ku klux, invisible empire, klan klan, south klan, social club, klan title, freed slaves, klu klux, american history, klu klux klan, klux klan http//wwwkkkcom, greg klu klux, klan http//wwwkkkcom 2,
Approximate Word count = 3421
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page double spaced)