The Ku Klux Klan: Social

Movement for Supremacy or

Survival?
MARCH 24, 2015
Devin Lightner, Tamina Scales, Kevina Turner, Charmagne Dixon, Courtney
White, Dominique Clay, Kayla Pinson
History

The Ku Klux Klan was founded after the end of the Civil war in December 1865. Prior to

the formal organization, Lost Cause Confederate Generals would ride around at night on

horseback wearing white robes and hooded masks. The recently freed blacks reported that these

ghost on horseback where confederate ghost that had come back to haunt the blacks of the south.

Six of these men in Pulaski, Tennessee decided to form the Ku Klux Klan. Captain John C.

Lester, Major James Richard Crowe, Captain John B. Kennedy, Captain James R. Crowe, Frank

O. McCord, Richard R. Reed, and J. Calvin Jones officially created the Ku Klux Klan on

December 24, 1865 in the law office of Calvin Jones’ father.

While many believe that the Ku Klux Klan began and operated in isolation it is important

to know their global roots and connection to truly see how the Neely Fuller’s and Francis Cress

Welsing’s arguments of global white supremacy is highly accurate. The Knights of the Golden

Circle (KGC) were established in 1854 and was funded by the Rothschild Bankers of the British

monarchy. This group existed to reestablish the slave trade, acquire new slave territory, and

destroy the U. S. constitution to establish a monarchy more powerful than the English Monarchy

(Goldstien, 1978, 53). Many of the Confederate General and leaders where apart of this secret

society. After the loss of the Civil War, the KGC’s military component began to operate as the

Ku Klux Klan and use violence and terror to hold off Lincoln’s reconstruction efforts that would

put an end to the financial gains of the Rothschild and British aristocracy made from slavery.

Moreover, the reason why they chose the name Kuklos which is the Greek word for circle is to

keep the continuity between the new organization and the Knights of the Golden Circle

(Goldstien, 1978, 54). It is clear by this connection that the struggle for white supremacy is a
global one and the foundation and connection between different societies allows them to fund

and aid one another in all parts of the world.

From its origin, the Klan was able to spread to different states and cities. With the help of

the Pulaski papers reporting on the night riders spread and reprint their message and invitation

outside of the state. While some thought the Klan was still as whimsical as the times when they

pretended to be ghost of confederate soldiers, some knew how serious they were and would heed

to their warnings and activities; yet the propaganda surrounding the Klan attracted interest

locally and regionally as Klaverns around the country would pop up. (Horn, 1969, 25)

The Klan came to bloom under the leadership of Nathan Bedford Forrest who was the

Imperial Wizard during its first stages. At the time of their formation they played on the most

psychological and widespread fear of black insurrection and a race war (Horn, 1969, 27). This

play on fear would become standard to Klansmen operation and recruitment.

The Klan is decentralized and each individual Klavern or den would develop their own

tactics in response to local threats to white supremacy. While they all had the same basis belief

for white preservation, after 1867 in a hotel called the Maxwell House where 10 different

organizations met, they decided they could no longer control the Klaverns or centralize them

(Lester, 23). This was occurring at the same time as Reconstruction acts were passed so this

meeting also encouraged Klansmen to continue action to hinder reconstruction activities to stick

with their focus of returning to the old southern order of slavery and maintain the racial caste

system.

While the KKK would use media in newspapers and word of mouth to garner support and

membership, this brought their violent acts to the attention of Congress who also noted that they
were not being punished for the crimes at the local level. After 1871, the Nathan Bedford Forrest

called for a disbanding of the Klan due to the Ku Klux Klan act which would allow the

government to use military force to suppress the KKK and other terrorist groups intimidating

blacks. This act was declared unconstitutional in 1883 due to the provision where it federally

penalized perpetrators of terrorist acts, protecting an induvial from private conspires is a state

function. Hence the Klan continued to act without much punishment.

Klan activity has died down and resurfaced in response to threats to white supremacy and

survival. Two large resurgences are periods after World War I (1950s-1920s) when Immigration

increased and the Civil rights Movement (1960s) where the fight for black equality was a threat.

In both of these times they were responsible for terrorist attacks like church bombings and

individual attacks like lynching that would keep people in a constant state of fear. While they

were banned from wearing hoods due to anti-Klan legislation they continued to act with

anonymity in the night.

Perception

The Ku Klux Klan’s perspective against African Americans went deeper than hatred

and dissatisfaction form losing their free labor source; their white superiority in America was

being challenged. John C. Lester an original member the Pulaski, Tennessee Ku Klux Klan

stated, “They are not fitted to the case of self control and maintenance… many of them entered

their new roles in life under the delusion that freedom meant a license.” (Kinshasa, 2006) His

comments expressed his views on the abilities of African Americans to be productive in the free

American society. Lester and other Klan members did not believe African Americans would be
able to conform and reach the same level of intelligence and mannerism to in order to be

productive, compared to being freedman not freeman as they were.

The Klux Klan Klan viewed scalawags and carpetbaggers during the Reconstruction

period in strong disapproval. Scalawags were people from the south who mostly supported the

Republican Party and the plan for Reconstruction. They benefited through moneymaking

opportunities from supporting the Republican Party, which held a greater number in office

compared to the Democratic Party that was supported by the Klan. (Hume, 2008) Carpetbaggers

were northerners who came south for opportunities to own land, political careers, and to educate

African American children. (Tunnell, 2006) The Ku Klux Klan did not approve of northerners

that supported Radical Republicans moving to the south influencing politics and teaching

African Americans in order for them to gain an education, challenging their white superiority.

Both scalawags and carpetbaggers had threats and murders carried out against them because of

their presence in the south that opposed the viewpoints of the Klan’s objective to white

superiority.

When Birth of a Nation was released in 1915 following the decline of the Ku Klux

Klan in the 1870’s the perspective of African Americans especially males shifted greater towards

negative views. The image of African American males depicted was of violent nature in society,

degrading white women by an overwhelming number of rapes toward them, and the lack of

intelligence toward the entire race. In efforts to control the outlandish actions of African

Americans and their crimes to society the Klan’s role was to protect the country. The film

became controversial between the Klan and African Americans. The film did serve as an effect

on more people joining the Ku Klux Klan to fight against the so-called villain and disgraceful

actions of the African Americans to gain social order and control. The film was a source of
entertainment for some, recruitment tool for the Klan, and oppression and for African American.

(Birth of a Nation 1915)

Ideology

The Ku Klux Klan’s (KKK) whole existence is based upon the fallacy of white

supremacy, which gives them a sense of white privilege, as they struggle to maintain white

purity amongst themselves, yet failing to understand the nature of white survival. White

supremacy is the hierarchal system based upon the notion that the white race is supreme. Which

is really a delusion due to the fact that the white race is the minority of the world. Yet and still,

the Klan holds on to this ideology in order to assure the privileges that come along with being

white. In this society we live in if you’re white, you have privileges spoken as well as unspoken.

According to Skip the Klansmen, race-mixing is heavily frowned upon throughout every klavern

of the Klan. The KKK believes in keeping their race pure from all other races. What is so ironic

about white purity is that it is detrimental to white survival. White survival is already threatened

by interracial mixing. However, even without factoring in interracial mixing, the white race is

slowly dwindling away due to factors such as harsh sun exposure and the fact that the white race

has little to no melanin to be able to survive these harsh condition without gaining some sort of

skin cancer. Not only that, but interracial mixing guarantees a diverse upcoming generation,

which slowly wipes away any hopes of white purity, which in turn kills the notion of 100% white

survival.

It is quite common that when many people think of the KKK they automatically think of

burning crosses as a symbol of hatred. Ironically, burning crosses was not an original symbol of
the KKK. Burning crosses predates the KKK. Crosses have been being burnt since the medieval

middle age period of the European timeline. This era is revered, as being morally untainted and

genealogically uniform. The Klan wishes for a day where the white race is placed upon the

highest pedestal. Scottish men would set crosses on fire on the side of hills in rebelliousness

against adversaries of the military or to get troops together when a battle was underway. Even

with this knowledge at hand, the original Klan did not burn crosses until 1915. In 1905 burning

of the cross by the Klan was introduced by Thomas Dixon in his novel The Clansman. His

reasoning for portraying the Klan as a cross burning cult was to prove the association of the

American Klansmen to the Scottish clansmen. In 1915, D.W. Griffith brought The Klansman to

life on the screen, however, although it was based on The Klansman, he renamed it, The Birth of

a Nation. After seeing the fear it struck in hearts all over the big screen, Klansman started to

threaten minorities all over by burning crosses all over the nation. (Why does the Ku Klux Klan,

2002) What members of the Klan refer to as The Christian Cross Lighting Ceremony, is in

actuality not based upon hatred in their eyes. However, it is a ceremony that is rooted in

Christianity. “The light of the cross symbolizes the Light of Christ dispelling darkness and

ignorance. It is the fire of the cross that reminds us of the cleansing "fire" of Christ that cleanses

evil from our land.” (Where did the KKK, 2007)

Women and the Klan

When people think of Ku Klux Klan members the image that comes to mind is of a white

male. However this is not always the case. Women have contributed and have been at the heart

of movements dating back to the 1800s. By nature women are expected to be nurturing, kind,

and delicate. However some women fit those characteristics and more, filled with deeper and
darker beliefs. By joining a movement that holds onto the belief of the Christian bible and

militant patriotism and racial segregation. When the Ku Klux Klan was established in the 1860’s

white women were along with them. Sharing the same beliefs but weren’t participating members

(Klan Women- LOTIES, 2015). It wasn’t until 1923 that the Women of the Ku Klux Klan was

established. And most women that viewed the women struggle with racial outlook were the

typical candidates to join the WKKK.

This movement was completely built on the back of women’s newly found status and

rights in the United States. The Women of the Ku Klux Klan spread extremely fast and

developed chapters in numerous states. States with the largest chapters, at the time, were Ohio,

Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and Indiana. The criteria of members in the WKKK had very few

requirements, including being a white, native born, and protestant woman over the age of sixteen

with conservative ideologies (Blee, 1991). Their conservative ideologies and motivation were

promoted by many of the same principles as the Klan. Forming to work together to solidify the

Klan’s movement, but were rarely involved in violence or vigilantism like the males of the Ku

Klux Klan.

The women handled the work behind the scenes, including events such as leading

political assaults on non-Klan businesses, strengthening the Klan’s political base and the Klan’s

social impact. Although, most members were married or related to male Klan members, there

were some whose families were opposed to the idea of their loved ones in the Klan. Still this

shows the connection between two movements that were operating at the same time and

moreover how even the participation of women in the KKK would not threaten the patriarchy.
Social Movement

The organizing of the Ku Klux Klan is one of the many terrible chapters of American

history, but their significance must be told as accurately as possible to understand their relevant

in the past and present. The Klan has had four period of prominence throughout history;

however, the hostile group has risen, collapsed, and resurfaced constantly throughout history

with each time coming with an expanded set off goals and movements. Essentially, the key

epochs of the group has been succeeding the Reconstruction era, secondly, was during World

War I, afterwards was during the “civil rights movement,” and now they are still around, but

their numbers are significantly lower. Through history the goals of the Klan movements have

been to expand their members, enforce white supremacy, and ensure white genetic purity and

survival.

Notably, after the Klan conception in 1865, the Confederate had recently loss the civil

war and slavery had been abolish. White Southerners and Confederate veterans receive

repercussions for their involvement in the war and Confederate currency became worthless. Also

during this period Blacks started to receive more help to elevate them politically and

economically. Radical Reconstruction from Republics gave Blacks the right to vote and granted

them citizenship. In retaliation, the Klan started a series of actions to terrorize new freed Blacks

and the White abolitionist supporters in an attempt to reclaim a sense of livelihood. One of their

most infamous movements were the night rides.

Secondly, historians argue that the confluence of two events in 1915; the release of The

Birth of a Nation and the lynching of Leo Fran led to the second coming of the Klan (Wade

1987; Newton 2006) Nearly 50 years later, in 1915, "Colonel" William Joseph Simmons, revived

the Klan after seeing D. W. Griffith's film Birth of A Nation, which portrayed the Klansmen as
great heroes. A key movement that started after the films popularity was the burning of the cross,

which was shown in the movie (Fryer and Levitt 2012). Notably, the movie was also screen for

Woodrow Wilson and he publicly supported the film message (Ku Klux Klan - A Secret

History). Leo Frank was a Jewish man who was convicted of killing white thirteen-year-old child

laborer Mary Phagan in an Atlanta factory on April 26, 1913 (Oney 2013). Also during this time,

political control became a huge goal for the Klan. From 1920-1925 the Klan was able to success

control most of the political apparatus in Indiana and Pennsylvania (Fryer and Levitt 2012).

Subsequently, the Klan had a high period of activity during the 1950-60’s. During this

period many Blacks began to politic segregation and other injustices going on in their

community. Consequently, the Klan tried to hinder the endeavors of the Blacks, since the Klan

did not want the ethnic mixing of the races.

It is worth mentioning that as the Klan has evolved their hate expanded from not only

Blacks, but to Jews, Catholics, and foreigners. One may ask why the Klan had so many

supporters? A reason for that was because the Klan was the outspoken voice of the convictions,

which many people held during the time, which lead to the Klan gaining support from many

White Americans. Ideally, the Klan movements have always been ones that they believed would

ensure the survival of their livelihood, genetics, and privileges, even if that meant through

terrorism, and causing their political and economic grows throughout the sabotage of other

people.

Today’s Klan

Today’s Ku Klux Klan as a movement still carries a lot of the morals and characteristics

as they did right after the abolishment of slavery. There are 25 U.S states that have operating Ku
Klux Klan groups. There are between 5,000 to 8,000 members in the Klan today. The KKK is no

longer a unified group there are many different chapters operating across the country (NEWS

MIC). In the state of Virginia there are about ten active chapters on record. All the

Klan’s/Chapters have different bylaws so they work differently. There is no chapter in Colonial

Heights because there aren’t enough members. The KKK gets their members by word of mouth

and literate drives. Most of the time becoming a Klansmen is a part of your upbringing or the

history of it is in your family. The KKK has a show just for kids, white kids, the show is called

A Show for White Kids. This little boy named Andrew runs the show and his duty is to spread

the Klan message to the children (NEWS MIC). They are still using media to shift the

perspective of the public on the Klan. Klan rallies still occur today where they have protest and

lighting of the cross. The Klan’s today are weak, poorly led, and divided internally. The Klan’s

full support doesn’t come from the south, though they are distinctly a southern movement,

developed and led by confederate veterans.

During my 2 hour and 40 min conversation with Skip Rodgers the Klansmen who stood

outside of the Colonial Height court house “unarmed and unmasked, it was noticeable that he

doesn’t sound or act like the ordinary redneck KKK member. He was very open to telling my

group about everything that “knew” as well as answering any question that we had for him. In

this conversation we found out more about how he felt as a Klansmen then the KKK as a whole.

Most KKK members dislike African American or all other races equally and want to “make

America great again” Mr. Rogers claims that he loves all races because we are all human in his

eyes. He explained that he went in front of the court and he said to protest for his first

amendment right.
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