Ku Klux Klan Was by Nathan Bedford Forrest

It amazes me that in 2005 there were over 800 active hate groups in the United States. Even more surprising, is that the Ku Klux Klan is still active! As a resident of Virginia I find it alarming that as of 2005 there were at least seven chapters of the Ku Klux Klan within an hour away from my home. I assumed that our society has overcome its ignorance towards those who are different from them ethnically. After the Civil War there was an extreme amount of hostility between Whites and African Americans.

In 1866, the Ku Klux Klan was founded by Nathan Bedford Forrest. Originally the social club was intended to cause mischief and focused on gags and hazing rituals such as those used amongst fraternities. Before long they began to frighten the African Americans in the area, they resented the freed slaves and felt that the freeing of the slaves threatened their Southern way of life. They sought to control the political and social status of the freed slaves. The KKK tried hard to prevent African Americans from gaining an education, economic advancement and the right to bear arms. In the months following the formation of the KKK the Klan grew larger and many Klansmen sought out more violent activities yet, they remained a small group of rowdy bullies. In 1867 the Radical Reconstruction Laws were passed by Congress. Northern Republicans felt as if America owed the former slaves a place in American society. The former Black codes were answered with a full array of new laws that would give the African Americans freedoms and rights similar to those of the Whites. Unfortunately, the South began to feel as if their previous way of life was being threatened leading the KKK to become more violent and severe. The Klan held its first big convention in Nashville, Tennessee in the spring of 1867. Although this convention was held in secret, the KKK declared their devotion to noble purposes such as, defending the weak and helping the injured and oppressed. Those who did not believe in opposing Black equality were not allowed to attend the convention and were not permitted membership. State governments and Congress worked to stop the KKK’s reign of terror. Forrest also attempted to put an end to the Klan in 1869 but he was extremely unsuccessful and the reign of terror continued on. President Grant ordered the Klan to disband in 1871 and passed a set of laws that would help in the prosecution of Klan members. Prior to Grant, those who stood up to the KKK had their property burned, were whipped or lynched, regardless if they were Black or White. In 1876 the election of Rutherford B. Hayes crushed the KKK’s motive for their terror by ending the Reconstruction in the south. White supremacist felt the Klan was no longer needed.

In January of 1915, D.W. Griffith released the film “The Birth of a Nation” glorifying the “first” KKK, portraying the Klan as a savior of the South. After viewing the film, Joseph Simmons, a former preacher, wanted to recreate a Klan like the one he saw depicted. By late November 1915, Simmons formed a group of 34 followers, two of which were elderly men who belonged to the “first” KKK. This new Klan had many ideas that differed from those of the original Klan. This new faction of the Klan was anti-Jewish, anti-Catholic, and anti-immigrant. In the 1930s and 1940s the Klan followed many of the ideas and shared beliefs with Adolph Hitler. The fall of the KKK in the 1940s was caused by a repercussion of many things, such as the American liberation of Nazi, Germany, backlash from creating