In December 1865, in Pulaski, Tennessee, six men who were previously officers in the Civil War decided to start a club, mainly for amusement. They chose to take on the name “kuklos,” which is the Greek word for circle. For fun, they galloped around town making a spectacle of themselves. They claimed not to have had a drink of water since the battle of Shiloh and also to live in hell. This frightened the Negroes. What began purely as a harmless, undisruptive group ended up being a violent hate assembly.

The Klan was rapidly spreading around the country. All over the South, people formed their own “Klans” with only a loose allegiance to the “mother-Klan in Pulaski.” These six founders however gave them no restraints or discipline because they did not even mean to start this trend they did. In April 1867, r

He, as well as the other Klansmen and Klanswomen, believe that since our nation was founded primarily by white people, that the political power should stay that within the white race. Our nation is based on a white European culture. Since our founding fathers that happened to be white came up with the ideas of freedom of speech, trial by jury, innocent until proven guilty, free enterprise, etc., they feel that anyone to be in politics should be white. They do not feel that the black people would be enjoying such freedoms as these if not for them. They also believe that the federal government today is corrupt and has a lot to do with the problems in the country. Mrs. Rachel Pendergraft states, “True, there are politicians in Washington D.C. working around the clock chipping away at our liberty, but thanks to the foresight of our founding fathers America has held out the longest against the global, race mixing, homosexual, anti-Christ forces working to wipe out White Christianity the way we have always known it.” They believe that all these things (race mixing, homosexuality, etc.) mentioned in the previous quote are wrong and sinful. They think that because our federal government allowed black people to get into high positions in the government all this happened.

By 1921, almost one hundred thousand men had joined the Klan. Clarke got other recruiters to break up the nation and “sell” the Klan. These people were called Grand Goblins. They usually sent ministers to spread the more exalted parts of the Klan gospel. For every new member recruited, Clarke made two dollars and fifty cents and Simmons made two dollars. The rest went to the actual recruiters.

In 1917, when America entered World War I, the Klan found a purpose. The nation needed to be defended against illegal aliens, immoral women, slackers, and strike leaders or else victory of our nation would be endangered. By doing this, they recruited thousands of new members. These new members viewed the KKK as an organization doing good deeds for the country. These few thousands of members were not enough for Simmons. He recruited Edward Young Clarke and Mrs. Elizabeth Tyler to publicize the Klan. They together were the Southern Publicity Association. They did not even have to do very much. The minute anyone said the words ‘Ku Klux,’ editors from all over the nation wanted to get in on it. After a while, the Klan was doing better than Simmons had ever dreamed, but to these new members, white supremacy and fraternal secrecy was not enough. “From the lip-service to the traditional racial values of the white South, the Klan shifted into a pyrotechnically aggressive defense of one-hundred-percent Americanism.”(32)

Martin Luther King, Jr. and his followers had scheduled a march from Montgomery to Selma starting on Sunday March 7, but Governor Wallace and other racist men had teargas, clubs, canes and ropes to stop them. This incident sent twenty-five men to the hospital, but was a major breakthrough for the black people. President Lyndon Johnson promised that if they tried again, he would have troops there, federal marshals, and an okay from the courts. They went through with the march. It was a victory for the black people but it cost the lives of three people. One was a black woodcutter; another was a white Boston clergyman, and the last, Mrs. Viola Gregg Liuzzo a young mother from Michigan. She was a member of the transport committee, told to take people from Selma back to Montgomery. On her way back for the second trip, a car drove past her and fired two shots, killing her.

Some topics in this essay:
Congressman Upshaw, Civil War, Imperial Wizard, White Christian, Birth Nation, Grand Goblin, Jefferson County, Tuscaloosa Klan, Klux Klan, Klansman Jacksonville, ku klux, ku klux klan, klux klan, black people, white people, grand dragon, robert shelton, civil war, hundred thousand, alvin horn, fraternal organization, civil rights movement, luther king jr, white people help, freedom speech trial,