The Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was a secret organization based on hatred and discrimination towards the blacks. They were formed right after the Civil War by Confederate men. The KKK not only discriminated against the blacks, but also many white southerners who stood up for the blacks. Their goals were to prevent all political actions that they did not agree on, to put an end to the schools that colored children were taught in, take the right to bear arms from the colored, and to keep the blacks as slaves. Many of the KKK’s victims were blacks who voted, ran for office, and people who stood up for their rights.
The Klan was very successful during the late 1860s and early 1870s in threatening and frightening both blacks and whites. The KKK would dress in white robes and hoods, as the resemblance of the ghosts of the Confederate dead, and surround their prey’s house at night and simply drag them outside and kill them. They would either shoot them, hang them, or set the victim on fire. Most of the these individuals were blacks who stood up for their rights to be respected. As well, some of their victims were white citizens who supported the colored people and showed sympathy towards them.
The Ku Klux Klan believed they had many reasons to use violence on the blacks and even whites. Such as, when they found out that the colored people were free, they immediately attacked the blacks. Additionally, if the government built a school for the colored kids, the KKK would burn them down. They would also murder any black farmer who had a farm and was making enough money. The Ku Klux Klan would even drag black men that were in jail, break their necks and after killing them they would throw them in the river. As well, the KKK had white victims. Teachers were one of them; the Ku Klux Klan would hate them for teaching and trying to help the black kids. All the violence the KKK used just shows how successful they were.
The Klan believed their democratic point of views and did not want to see it any other way. They would murder individuals who were on the Republican side. Many victims were terrified