The KKK was formed as a social group in Tennessee in 1866

Origin

The KKK was formed as a social group in Tennessee in 1866. The name probably came from the Greek word kuklos, meaning "circle."

The Ku Klux Klan was a loosely organized group of political and social terrorists during the Reconstruction, whose goals included political defeat of the Republican Party and the maintenance of absolute white supremacy in response to newly gained civil and political rights by southern blacks after the Civil War.Ku Klux Klan

Klan was an alliterative version of "clan," thus Ku Klux Klan suggested a circle, or band, of brothers. With the passage of the Military Reconstruction Acts in March 1867, and the prospect of freedmen voting in the South, the Klan became a political organization. Former Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest probably served as the Grand Wizard, or overall leader, of the Klan and certainly played a significant role in its organized spread in early 1868.

In Georgia conservative whites, frustrated with their political failures during 1867, began to look for new ways to defeat their Republican enemies and control the recently enfranchised freedpeople. For many, the KKK and its public political wing, the Young Men's Democratic Clubs, offered a chance to take action. In February and March 1868, General Forrest visited Atlanta from Tennessee several times and met with prominent Georgia conservatives. Forrest probably helped organize a statewide Klan structure during these visits. By the summer of 1868, the Klan was widespread across Georgia.

Organization

The KKK was a very loosely organized group, and hierarchical structures beyond the county level probably were more symbolic than operational. The Klan in Georgia had a titular head, the Grand Dragon, who at one point was probably General John B. Gordon. Each congressional district had a Grand Titan and under him were Grand Giants for each county. Former Klansman John C. Reed recalled that Robert Toombs's law partner and son-in-law, Dudley M. DuBose, served as Grand Titan for the Fifth Congressional District while Reed himself served as Grand Giant of Oglethorpe County. In each militia district of his county Reed organized dens of ten or so men, most Confederate veterans with a good horse and a gun. Thus, Reed as a county leader had at his disposal more than one hundred armed and mounted men.

The Ku Klux Klan in Action

The Klan's organized terrorism began most notably on March 31, 1868, when Republican organizer George Ashburn was murdered in Columbus, Georgia.

Most Klan action was designed to intimidate black voters and white supporters of the Republican Party. Klansmen often dressed in outlandish costumes, picured here in a cartoon from Harper's Weekly.Ku Klux Klan Cartoon

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