The History of the Ku Klux Klan

December 24, 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee, is the documented beginning of a society of vigilantes who believed in frontier justice, no courts and no law. The organization sprang up from a group of men who during slavery acted as "night riders." Night riders would patrol for runaways and act as a deterrent for slave uprisings or meetings. They were given permission to capture slaves, issue a certain amount of lashes, and return the slave to its owner.

The early members chose Ku Klux from the Greek word Ku Klos meaning circle and the English word clan to serve as the name. The robes and costumes were designed by members as a disguise for which to carry out their acts of vigilantism.

The Klan spread quickly and attracted former Civil War Confederates including General Nathan Bedford Forrest, who's soldiers murdered Black troops who surrendered to his Confederate forces at Ft. Pillow, TN. He became the first Grand Wizard of the Klan.

At this time, the Klan's main purpose was to work for the then Democratic Party to sway voting and voter registration by post civil war Blacks. Members were mayors, policemen, sheriffs, judges, and criminals alike. They systematically slaughtered, beat, whipped, and intimidated thousands of Blacks for whatever reason they found, even just for being Black.

State governments fought back to end the "Invisible Empire" and started arresting Klansmen. Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas leading the fight. Gov. Edmund Davies of Texas formed a task force made of 40% Black policemen who made 6,000 arrests. In North Carolina and South Carolina former slaves fought back. The federal government then passed the Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871. Ku Klux Klan activity died down successfully in 1872 until 1915.

Thanksgiving Day 1915, Confederate Col. William Joseph Simmons climbed Stone Mountain, GA with 16 Klansmen to revive the Klan renaming it Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. This was the beginning of the second era. He held office of Imperial Wizard from 1915-1922.

During his office, the KKK became a powerful political force. Their 1915 revival was a direct response to a new organization that began February 12, 1908 known as the NAACP. Membership of the Klan was believed to number as many as 4,000,000.

In November of 1922, Hiram Wesley Evans, a dentist, became the new Imperial Wizard and expanded the KKK nationwide in key political positions in several states such as Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Oregon, and Maine. With Hiram as Imperial Wizard, Simmons now held office as Emperor. Under Simmons' rule, it was believed that presidents Calvin Coolidge and Woodrow Wilson held membership to the Klan.

By 1925 the number of Klansmen reached 6,000,000. Post WW I, the Klan now expanded it's hunt for racial supremacy to include hatred for Jewish, Roman Catholics, socialists, communist, and anyone identified as a foreigner.

The Ku Klux Klan defined themselves as white Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Obeying their constitution and bylaws which dictates among other things that each member shall furnish himself with a pistol, a KKK gown, and signal instrument.

In the state of Indiana, Grand Dragon David "DC" Curtiss Stephenson, resided. He was a very powerful influence on the recruitment and leadership of the Klan nationwide. People at his disposal included then Gov. Ed Jackson. During one of DC's many parties that the governor attended with his staff, DC took a liking to Marge Oberholtzer, a state secretary in charge of the governor's fight against illiteracy. He lured her out of her home the following night and took her to his private Pullman's car on a train to Chicago. There he raped her brutally, repeatedly and caused bite marks on her body so severe that he coroner believed him to be cannibal. Her injuries included an eaten off nipple and genitals so mutilated with human teeth marks that it looked as if she was "gnawed on by a pack of wolves".

While being held hostage Marge, took mercury to poison herself so that DC would let her go. Frightened that she would die while with him, he drove her straight back to Indiana where she died due a lack of medical care. That maneuver was the act that got him convicted not only for rape and kidnapping, but also second-degree murder.
It was said that expert witnesses claimed the amount of poison she drank was not enough to kill her had she received immediate medical attention. Those same witnesses also said that the bite marks inflicted on her were enough to cause a slower death even with medical attention.

Sentenced to life imprisonment, and angered that his "pal" Gov. Jackson did not grant him clemency nor a pardon DC Stephenson began to talk. He gave up the names of members of the Ku Klux Klan, including Jackson's. Its membership sunk once again down to 1,000,000 and was disbanded once again.

The 1960's and civil rights and government desegregation laws brought back the next KKK revival. Southern whites were angered and reorganization began. Violence was wide spread and in 1963 two members of the Klan even bombed an Alabama church killing 4 little girls. This church was being used as the meeting place for civil rights organizers. The death of these 4 young girls was used a springboard to get the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed.

Once the century long struggle for voting and civil rights in the south simmered down, the Klan shifted their focus to affirmative action, immigration, and court ordered busing to desegregate schools. In 1971, Klansmen bombed 10 school buses in Pontiac, MI. The 1970's brought resistance for the Klan and was pretty common place. Attempts to march or rally were met with protest and sometimes violence towards the Klan.

The most successful form of attack on the Klan of recent date has been the lawsuit. The 1981 lynching of Michael Donald led to a civil lawsuit that bankrupted The United Klans of America, one of the many groups that make up the Ku Klux Klan.

The threat of arrest never phased a Klansmen, as seen in the case of DC Stephenson who was quoted as saying, "I am the law", but at lawsuits, Klansmen showed signs of worry and concern. There was a series of lawsuits brought against them by the Southern Poverty Law Center for a shootout between them and African Americans. It curtailed their activities to in order to save money for defending themselves legally.

The KKK of today still exists mostly as smaller splinter cell factions in a few former Confederate states and heavily in the Midwest. How many members can't be determined, because they are after all a secret society.

Just like everyone else they are entitled to their 1st Amendment rights and as a result the ACLU has at times provided legal support to various factions of the Klan.

KKK activity since the 1981 lynching of Michael Daniel, can be documented as recently as 2005. In Hamilton, Ohio the home of a Hispanic man was burned to the ground after being accused of sexually assaulting a white 9-year-old girl. Klan members were at the scene passing out literature in full Klan garb.

The Ku Klux Klan is believed to no longer have members in the federal government or in any other prominent position.

Sources:
http;//martinfrost.ws
www.knightskkk.com
www.pbs.org