While the Ku Klux Klan contributed to racial disharmony in America during the early 1900s, it was more an expression of the most extreme elements of hatred that already existed in the society. Racial disharmony was evident in American society since the introduction of Black slaves, but it intensified after the American Civil War because of the poor economic conditions that followed and continuing white opposition to equal rights for blacks. The Ku Klux Klan were able to flourish in this atmosphere of discontent, setting horrifying examples for people to follow and acting as a role model for others in the new century, but they didn't succeed in stopping American society from advancing.

Racial disharmony was first evident in American society after Black Africans were sent as slaves to work on southern plantations - by 1850, nearly four million Black slaves were working on plantations. In 1861 war broke out between the northern and southern states because those in the North believed the slaves should be freed. The North won the war and the slaves were freed, but racial tensions flared because most of the whit

The Klan began to take control in the 1868. They aimed to get rid the south of carpetbaggers, blacks and any person who supported them. They stole their opponents' goods, beat them and even killed them in public 'lynchings', designed to show people what could happen to them if they had anything to do with the carpetbaggers or blacks.

By the late 1870s, northerners became indifferent towards the civil rights of Blacks, and the federal government abandoned its duty to protect them in laws. In the 1890s, the southern states introduced the Jim Crow laws, which barred Blacks from voting, public office and jury service - white mobs flourished and officials felt no obligation to look after minority interests or lives. Many race riots targeted Blacks, and there were very sadistic killing of Blacks. White families even brought small children to watch lynchings, newspapers ran ads, railway excursion tickets were sold to lynching sites, and mobs cut off Black victims' body parts as souvenirs. Rather than simply a punishment for crime (and these were often made up), lynching had become a form of social control and recreation. Although from the 1890s to the early 1930s many southern and border states had laws dealing with lynching and mob violence, these were not properly enforced. Officers just didn't bother to arrest lynchers, even when their identities were known.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the southern states, which depended mostly on agriculture, suffered enormously. This experience just added more fuel to the racist fire, with

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