Ku Klux Klan

History of the Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan was established in 1865, after the American Civil War, by six ex-soldiers in Pulaski, Tennessee. They were against the rebuilding of the Federal government and decided they had to protect the white people against the black people. They established a ‘klan’, a sort of club, because they were very bored and unemployed.

They invented the name Ku Klux Klan by putting the Greek word for circle, ‘ku klux’, and the word ‘klan’ together. Ku klux says something about the alliance between the members and Klan, says something about their Irish or Scottish background. They found some followers, although the group remained rather small. This group worked on a very small scale and made only a few attacks on black people.

From 1870 onward the KKK started to get a lot more members. The attacks began to happen more frequently and a lot of black people were killed by the Klan. In 1870 for example the KKK tortured 300 black people so badly they couldn’t even walk anymore, let alone work. At the end of the 19th century the Klan almost disappeared because of a lot of internal conflicts and fraud. Until then the KKK operated only in the southern states of America.

In 1915 the Klan was re-established as ‘the knights of the Ku Klux Klan’ by William Simmons. This Klan wasn’t against blacks alone but also against Jewish people. ‘The knights of the Ku Klux Klan also had members in the northern parts of America.

After World War I the Klan grew considerably, because of the bad economy in America. In 1924 the Ku Klux Klan had over 4 million members all over America. Their power became so great, the results of the elections in some states depended on the Ku Klux Klan.

In 1944 the Klan was almost finished again, but Samuel Green re-established the Ku Klux Klan. This Klan started to use the television. This Klan didn’t act in a mysterious way anymore. Instead, they started to make claims about their actions on national TV. They explained why they did those things and what they wanted to achieve with what they did. The Klan used television as a promotional stunt to attract new members, but the television producers also used the Ku Klux Klan. When the Klan was on television the had a lot more viewers. Because of TV, the Klan got famous in the rest of the world. Moreover, new Klan’s were established in a number of countries in Europe. Even in Belgium there is a division of the Klan. Because they got so famous, the government banished the Klan from the media. After these measures, the popularity and the membership of the KKK rapidly decreased.

Nowadays, it has gotten pretty quiet around the Ku Klux Klan. They can’t attack their enemies as they could before. The number of enemies is bigger now as well. Today, the KKK is also against communists, homosexuals, drug addicts and people who are on welfare. At this moment, America has over 6000 active members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Clothing

The clothes of the KKK members have changed during history. At the beginning every member wore a white suit, regardless of their rank. The followers of the Klan were very poor and that’s why they wore a white sheet and a white pillowcase over their heads. The horses also wore a white sheet on their backs. Members of the Ku Klux Klan think that wearing a white suit means that you belong to the army of God. For them the colour white symbolises the purity of a person.
Later, the Klan’s security force started to wear black suits. Another name for the KKK security force is ‘Nighthawks’.

From 1920 members also wore other colours. The person with the highest rank, the Imperial Wizard, wore a purple suit, while a local leader wore a green suit. At the moment, all KKK followers wear the same colour of costume. Only when there is a wedding or they do a cross lightning they wear their coloured suits.
A cross lightning is a ceremony in which members gather to burn a big cross. Often the cross will be standing upon a hill or on somebody’s land. With this burning cross the Ku Klux Klan is warning the enemy.

The Ku Klux Klan now

The biggest enemies of the KKK still are the black people in America. Followers of the Klan want their country back, just as it was when they arrived in America. They think the non Aryan people who live in the USA should return to their own country. If they don’t want to go back then they should work as slaves for the white people. They are also against the right to vote for black people in the United States.

The cross lightning still is the most important way of protest, because the KKK can’t protest in America. This is because several states forbid protesting while the face is covered. The Ku Klux Klan wants to fight very hard against their enemies, although the KKK law forbids violence. The Klan denies to have murdered a lot of ‘alien people’ in the past. Alien people is the name they use for men and women who aren’t of the Aryan race. They admit that a few enemies were killed by members of the KKK, but those members were banished.

People who are interested in becoming a member of the Klan have to study six months to a year in a KKK training centre. During these months they have to read certain books and they have to fulfill certain educational requirements. After these months thy have to undergo an examination to test their knowledge.

Conclusion

The Ku Klux Klan is an extremely fascist organisation, no matter what they say in their magazines or on the internet …
There are also a lot of contradictions in what they say. On the internet you can find two types of sites. Sites for everyone, where the KKK is a ‘nice’ organisation and sites for the KKK members. This sites are extremely fasicst and really cruel. On the visitors’ sites they tell you the Klan is against Hitler and his ideas. On the sites for members they quote Hitler and his friends.
Their ideas are bad for America and the rest of the world. Although some Americans helped the Klan with their campaigns in the early days, the majority are doing everything to stop them now.

This lesson for children (12 – 15 years old)

I would ask the pupils to describe an alien and what they think an alien looks like. Then I would talk about the KKK. I would shorten the history part because it is very boring for the pupils.
At the end of the lesson I would ask what their aliens look like. Is it the same alien as the one described by the KKK? This is how I would start the discussion about the KKK and racism.

Sources

The internet:
1. www.K-K-K.com
2. www.wckkk.com
3. www.americanknights.com
4. www.kukluxklan.net
5. www.scholieren.com

Books:
1. Martin Luther King: Amerika’s grote geweldloze strijder voor burgerrechten voor zwarten; Brown Pan & Schloredt Valerie