Rebirth of the KKK essays

Rebirth of the KKK essays The Ku Klux Klan first appeared in late 1865 or early 1866 in Pulaski, Tennessee. It began as a Tennessee social club but soon turned into a paramilitary force under the direction of Nathan Bedford Forrest. The Klans primary purpose was white supremacy and the main goal was to keep blacks out of the voting booths. By 1870 the Klan was everywhere in the south. They were strong supporters of the Democratic Party and often beat and sometimes killed republican politicians. Due to the overabundance of violent and sometimes fatal crimes many members of the Klan found themselves in trouble with the law. Because of this the Klan was basically obsolete by the mid 1870s. Beginning in the early nineteenth century there were massive waves of immigrants coming into the country. The majority of these immigrants were mostly from Italy, Russia, and Ireland. Along with all these new people came new languages, customs, and beliefs. They also provided a cheap source of labor. Many Americans saw this to be threatening to their jobs and their culture. Along with all the new immigrants the country was under going drastic changes of its own such as styles, music, and beliefs. All these changes began to scare old stock Americans. Thousands of fundamentalists Christians were bewildered by the progressive era victories of evolution and social gospel, not to mention jazz, gin, and short skirts. These fundamentalist Christians were seeking a way to bring old-time religion back. On Thanksgiving Day in 1915 Colonel William J. Simmons created what they had been seeking. That night Simmons held a cross burning ceremony atop Stone Mountain in Georgia. The ceremony pledged new members to be True to the faithful maintenance of white supremacy. In order to become a member of the new Ku Klux Klan you were required to vow to be a native born American citizen who believed in the tenets of the Christi...