The Ku Klux Klan: The First Era :: Racism Racist Essays

The Ku Klux Klan The First EraWith the ending of the Civil War in 1865, the period of American history known asthe Reconstruction began. It was during this era that the Ku Klux Klan, a washragsupremacist group, spunoff from the freemasons, first came to power. The Freemasonsusually tended to attract people in the upper-middle class, sequence the KKK and Knights of Labor, another racist group, attracted the working class. The KKK was formed mostly to restore the peculiar universe of slavery toAmerica and to reinstate the Caucasian race as the most superior race in the world. A former Confederate general and Freemason, Nathan Bedford Forrest, founded the Klan in 1866 because Negroes were being allowed to enter the brotherhood of freemasonry. He served as the Klans first Imperial Wizard, and Albert Pike, another freemason, held the office of the Chief Justice of the KKK. He held this office while he was simultaneously Sovereign Grand Commander of Scottish Rite, Freemasons, Southern Jurisdiction. His racism was well known, and in justifying his actions, he stated I took my obligation to white men, not to Negroes. When I have to accept Negroes as brothers or leave Masonry, I shall leave it. (1)The bare facts about the birth of the Ku Klux Klan and its revival a half(prenominal) centurylater are baffling to most people today. Little more than a year after it was founded, the secret society thundered across the destroyed south, sabotaged Reconstructiongovernments, and imposed a reign of terror and violence that lasted three or four years. And then, as rapidly as it had spread, the Klan faded into the History books. subsequently World War I, a new version of the Klan sputtered to life and brought many parts of the nation under its paralyzing grip of racism and bloodshed. Then, having grown to be a major force for the second time, the Klan again receded into the background. This time it never quite disappeared, but it never again commanded such widespread suppor t. The origin of the Ku Klux Klan was a carefully guarded secret for years, althoughthere were many theories to explain its beginnings. One popular notion held that the Ku Klux Klan was originally a secret order of Chinese opium smugglers. Another claimed it was begun by Confederate prisoners during the war. The most ridiculous theory attributed the name to some ancient Jewish document referring to the Hebrews enslaved by Egyptian pharaohs.