In the beginning directly after the Civil War. The South was in turmoil. They had lost the war, were controlled by the North, and were experiencing much poverty due to war funds. Northern troops were running the South and they treated all white people badly. The main thing that struck the nail in the coffin for the south was the freedom of all former slaves, the African Americans. Eventually the white southerners got tired of paying high taxes to the North and living with the blacks. The white southerners simply hated the idea of treated blacks equally. They formed a society of night riders who terrorized the former slaves during the nights.

Six former Confederate officers met one night to discuss matters. A secret society was formed called the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The words AKu@ and AKlux@ came fro

officially disbanded in January 1869. Bedford left the clan and was actually a friend to most African Americans. He helped many African Americans escape to the North and many were also his friends. Hundreds of African Americans attending his funeral in 1877.

Sadly, today the KKK still exists. There are currently six major groups that are still around today. The first is the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. They were formed in 185 by Virgil Griffon. It is mostly the North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee faction. The second and thirds are The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. There are two factions of this, one for Michigan and one for Arkansas. They were formed in August 1994, and remain the two largest Klan factions around. The fourth is the Federation of Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan that was formed in April 1994. If is the smallest Klan faction and has less then fifty members spreading over five states. The fifth Klan faction is the Knights of the White Camellia Ku Klux Klan, formed in 1992 and 1993. It is the Texas faction and is the third largest faction in the country. Finally the sixth faction takes base at close by Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It was formed in 1992 by a man known as Barry Black.

The years 1868 through 1871 was the KKK reign of terror. This started one of the most horrendous time periods of the Klan=s actions. They started warning blacks and northerners they did not like with harassing letters among other things. If the people did not listen they were either warned

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