Known for being an abolitionist and one of the most important African American leaders of the nineteenth century, Frederick Douglass once said, “The thing that worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion.” Instances of rebellion orchestrated by groups of people can be traced from our earliest records of history all the way to today’s modern era. People in a society gather together and form a rebellion against whom they believe to be the oppressor. Using both violent and nonviolent tactics, these social groups continue to rebel until they achieve their goal of gaining some prosperity or desired success. The Ku Klux Klan and the anti-war protests of 1960s are two examples of social groups, that rebelled against their oppressor. The …show more content…
The Ku Klux Klan first emerged in Pulaski, Tennessee following the Civil War. As we know today, the mere mention of the Klan triggers fear as the KKK is known for its various tactics of violence that came in the form if lynchings, murders, and mutilations. Following their emergence, the KKK were quickly symbolized and portrayed as the protectors of the South, following the defeat of the Southern states in the Civil War and the beginning of the period of Reconstruction by the federal government (Gurr, 1989, p. 132). During the 1920s, the KKK achieved its greatest political success and growth outside of the South. During this period, the membership of the Klan heavily expanded to the states of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Oregon, to which the KKK obtained two to two and one-half million members at its apex. During this time, Klansmen were holding public parades and initiations throughout the nation while projecting their racist beliefs of purifying American society with native-born White Protestant males along with their White supremacy. With their massive growth, their
Joe Moore THEY CALLED THEMSELVES THE KKK INTRODUCTION “They Called Themselves the KKK,” was written by Susan Cambell Bartoletti in 2010. In the story, she writes about the birth of the American Terrorist Group, the KKK. In the story, she introduces the reader to people who lived after the Civil War, the time known as the Reconstruction. She gathered the information or the book from a variety of sources: interviews with Klu Klux Klansmen and their victims, congressional testimony, interviews, and historical journals, diaries, and newspapers. Bartoletti did not censor the interviews or newspaper articles and photographs; therefore, some people find the book to be racially offensive.
At its peak in the 1920s, Klan membership exceeded 4 million people nationwide. The 1920’s , the time of the reborn the Ku Klux Klan, immigration restriction. though this intensified prejudice of the 1920’s
The KKK had a very big social impact in the early 1800’s. Many KKK members were state officials and lawyers that were against blacks and jews also gays. The KKK marched in many parades and protests. Many of the protests were whites only protest and lasted for up to 12 hours of marching.
Resistance to Reconstruction was incredibly aggressive and violent since Southerners were extremely appalled by the radical social transformations that were resulting from Reconstruction, so those Southerners terrorized and killed the Republicans and the black people responsible for the changes. Black people were supposedly guaranteed equality before the law by the 14th amendment, however, their rights were not always upheld. Southerners would kill black people over minor actions, like not yielding to whites on sidewalks or attempting to buy land. A terrorist organization, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), formed in 1866 to punish people who “defied the norms of white supremacy”. Ordinary black people were killed by the KKK alongside black and white
The KKK was a white nationalized group that included former veterans, which created the first branch of the group. The Klansmen founded in 1865, in Pulaski, Tennessee, is now known as the birthplace of the KKK. This group dedicated themselves to a campaign of violence to Republican leaders and voters. The KKK targeted many people based on their race or sexuality , including, Gays, Immigrants, African Americans, and Catholics(KKK history). Jim Crow laws,
The rebirth of the KK was caused by the rise in immigrants, the Great migration, strikes, the red Scare, and ect. Their mission was to preserve the white, protestant civilization, and the re-establishment of white supremacy. Within 15 months over 100,000 people joined the klan. A massive portion of America felt invaded by immigrants. The KKK used anti-communism as an excuse to harass the monitories.
Who killed Reconstruction: The North or South? Following the civil war, the south killed the reconstruction of the United States. (Reconstruction was putting the country back together after the Civil War) There are many reasons why, the south slowed down the reconstruction of the United States, the main reason was freedmen were not seen as equals to the white.
Prohibition wasn’t the only source of social tension in the 1920’s. The Great migration of African Americans from the south countryside to the north cities, and the increase of black culture had embarrassed the white’s and it made them feel very uncomfortable about themselves. Because of this, millions of white people in different places like Indiana, and Illinois joined the KKK in the 1920’s. To them, they felt like this Klan helped them by killing the black people and going back to their own culture.
In the mid-1920s, the Ku Klux Klan faced an influx of members as they began to target new enemies. The Klan not only attacked American blacks, but now targeted Jews, Catholics, and left-wing radicals. The membership reached its highest point since the end of Reconstruction, peaking at more than four million members. The statement, “the resurgence of the clan was merely the most extreme outgrowth of festering intolerance which permeated American society in the 1920s” is a valid statement due to New Immigration, religious tension, and a sense of racial intolerance in the North. The Ku Klux Klan is an example of xenophobia, racism, and religious intolerance.
The Klan targeted socially active middle-class White families that frequented Protestant churches. These were perfect candidates because of their deep ties to religious morals as both the KKK and WKKK believed themselves to be morally superior. Although not directly stated in their manifesto from an unknown year in the 1920s, Klanswomen wanted their beliefs to triumph over any other: “WE BELIEVE in the free public schools where our children are trained in the principles and ideals that make America the greatest of all nations.” Even though this line refers to children’s education, it shows how these women believed their principals were superior and wanted all Americans to adopt them as their ideals. Bearing these beliefs, the Klan had to find ways to protect their families from outside corruption.
The Klan was glorified as being the South’s savior from the alleged tyranny. This portrayal was the opposite of what actually occurred which was slavery.7 Resulting from the emphasis on the Ku Klux Klan, violence and intolerance against the Negro in both the North and the