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This was no mere religious rite. As the children and their parents moved toward the clergyman, they were enveloped by 50 men in white robes. They were the children of the Ku Klux Klan, and It was just the beginning of the terror that would take place that night. The cross burned out, but the In December , the U. Senate passed a federal anti-lynching bill for the first time. The significant milestone is preceded by at least failed attempts since to pass any bill or resolution mentioning lynching in Congress.

These attempts to outlaw lynching peaked If you only read F. Scott Fitzgerald, you might get the impression that everyone during the s flouted Prohibition and got away with it.

During the Tulsa Race Massacre, which occurred over 18 hours from May 31 to June 1, , a white mob attacked residents, homes and businesses in the predominantly Black Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The event remains one of the worst incidents of racial violence in Live TV.

This Day In History. History Vault. Ku Klux Klan Violence in the South From onward, Black participation in public life in the South became one of the most radical aspects of Reconstruction, as Black people won election to southern state governments and even to the U.

Recommended for you. How the Troubles Began in Northern Ireland. Ku Klux Klan. Black Leaders During Reconstruction. Similar campaigns of l ynchings , tar-and-featherings, rapes and other violent attacks on those challenging white supremacy became a hallmark of the Klan.

Within the structure of the Klan, he directed a hierarchy of members with outlandish titles, such as imperial wizard and exalted cyclops. Hooded costumes, violent "night rides," and the notion that the group made up an "invisible empire" conferred a mystique that only added to the Klan's popularity. After a short but violent period, the "first era" Klan disbanded when it became evident that Jim Crow laws would secure white supremacy across the country.

By , when its followers staged a march in Washington, D. The Klan arose a third time during the s to oppose the civil rights movement and attempt to preserve segregation as the Warren Court substantiated civil rights in multiple Supreme Court rulings. Bombings, murders and other attacks the Klan carried out took a great many lives.

Murders committed by Klansmen during the civil rights era include four young girls killed while preparing for Sunday services at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and the murder of civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner in Mississippi.

With over 6 million Black Americans taking part in this migration, the demographics of the country shifted dramatically. With the conclusion of the Vietnam War in and the subsequent return of American soldiers, several key figures arose within the Klan. Similarly, David Duke — founder of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in — maintained a distinctly antisemitic hatred that closed ideological gaps with neo-Nazis. Internal fighting and government infiltrations have led to a seemingly endless series of splits, resulting in smaller, less organized Klan chapters.

However, it is fair to assume that the infighting, rigid traditions and uncouth aesthetic of the Klan are not attracting significant new membership. View all groups by state and by ideology. Some of the most recognizable Klan symbols date back to the group's origins following the Civil War.

The KKK's white hoods and robes evolved from early efforts to pose as ghosts or "spectral" figures, drawing on then-resonant symbols in folklore to play "pranks" against African-Americans and others. Such tricks quickly took on more politically sinister overtones, as sheeted Klansmen would commonly terrorize their targets, using hoods and masks to disguise their identities when carrying out acts of violence under the cover of darkness.

Fiery crosses, perhaps the Klan's most resonant symbol, have a more surprising history. No documented cross burnings occurred during the first Klan wave in the 19th century.

However, D. Dixon, Jr. The symbol was quickly appropriated by opportunistic KKK leaders to help spur the group's subsequent "rebirth. Through the s, Klan leaders regularly depicted the cross as embodying the KKK's Christian roots -- a means to spread the light of Jesus into the countryside. A bestselling 45rpm record put out by United Klans of America included the Carolina Klan's Bob Jones reciting how the fiery cross served as a "symbol of sacrifice and service, and a sign of the Christian Religion sanctified and made holy nearly 19 centuries ago, by the suffering and blood of 50 million martyrs who died in the most holy faith.

Has the KKK always functioned as a violent terrorist group? The KKK's emphasis on violence and intimidation as a means to defend its white supremacist ends has been the primary constant across its various "waves. However, during the periods of peak KKK successes in both the s and s, when Klan organizations were often significant presences in many communities, their appeal was predicated on connecting the KKK to varied aspects of members' and supporters' lives. Such efforts meant that, in the s, alongside the KKK's political campaigns, members also marched in parades with Klan floats, pursued civic campaigns to support temperance, public education, and child welfare, and hosted a range of social events alongside women's and youth Klan auxiliary groups.

Similarly, during the civil rights era, many were drawn to the KKK's militance, but also to leaders' promises to offer members "racially pure" weekend fish frys, turkey shoots, dances, and life insurance plans. In this sense, the Klan served as an "authentically white" social and civic outlet, seeking to insulate members from a changing broader world. The Klan's undoing in both of these eras related in part to Klan leaders' inability to maintain the delicate balancing act between such civic and social initiatives and the group's association with violence and racial terror.

Indeed, in the absence of the latter, the Klan's emphasis on secrecy and ritual would have lost much of its nefarious mystique, but KKK-style lawlessness frequently went hand-in-hand with corruption among its own leaders.

More importantly, Klan violence also often resulted in a backlash against the group, both from authorities and among the broader public. Discover the fascinating story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, the groundbreaking cryptanalyst who helped bring down gangsters and break up a Nazi spy ring in South America. Her work helped lay the foundation for modern codebreaking today.

I n the summer of , hundreds of wildfires raged across the Northern Rockies. By the time it was all over, more than three million acres had burned and at least 78 firefighters were dead. It was the largest fire in American history. In August , the small town of Plymouth, North Carolina nearly became the site of what might have been one of the bloodiest events of the civil rights era.

Filmmaker Callie Wiser reflects on the experience of making Klansville U. As the civil rights movement grew in the s, the long-dormant Ku Klux Klan reemerged with a vengeance. Klansville U. Support Provided by: Learn More.