Their main goal was to restore white supremacy by threats and violence, including murder, against black and white Republicans

The Ku Klux Klan was a secret terrorist organization that originated in the Southern states during the period of Reconstruction following the American Civil War (1861-1865).

• The Ku Klux Klan was a secret terrorist organization that originated in the Southern states during the period of Reconstruction following the American Civil War (1861-1865).

• Their main goal was to restore white supremacy by threats and violence, including murder, against black and white Republicans.

The original Klan was organized in Pulaski, Tennessee, on December 24, 1865, by six well-educated Confederate veterans who gave their society a name adapted from the Greek word kyklos (circle).

• The original Klan was organized in Pulaski, Tennessee, on December 24, 1865, by six well-educated Confederate veterans who gave their society a name adapted from the Greek word kyklos (circle).

• Although the Ku Klux Klan began as a prankish social organization, its activities soon were directed against the Republican Reconstruction governments and their leaders, both black and white, which came into power in the South in 1867.

Klan members gathered in Nashville, Tennessee in 1867 to try to create a national organization with local chapters. Most leaders were former members of the Confederate Army.

• Klan members gathered in Nashville, Tennessee in 1867 to try to create a national organization with local chapters. Most leaders were former members of the Confederate Army.

• Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest became Grand Wizard, claiming to be the Klan’s national leader.

• Despite these efforts at organization, local Klan units continued to operate autonomously.

MEMBERSHIP

• MEMBERSHIP

The Klansmen regarded the Reconstruction governments as hostile and oppressive. They also generally believed in the innate inferiority of blacks and therefore mistrusted and resented the rise of former slaves to a status of civil equality, and often to positions of political power.

• The Klansmen regarded the Reconstruction governments as hostile and oppressive. They also generally believed in the innate inferiority of blacks and therefore mistrusted and resented the rise of former slaves to a status of civil equality, and often to positions of political power.

Members adopted white costumes: robes, masks, and conical hats, designed to be outlandish and terrifying, and to hide their identities and add to the drama of their night rides.

• Members adopted white costumes: robes, masks, and conical hats, designed to be outlandish and terrifying, and to hide their identities and add to the drama of their night rides.

• Many of them operated in small towns and rural areas where people otherwise knew each other's faces, and sometimes still recognized the attackers.

• "The kind of thing that men are afraid or ashamed to do openly, and by day, they accomplish secretly, masked, and at night."

• With this method both the high and the low could be attacked.

Klansmen terrorized public officials in efforts to drive them from office. They attacked Freedmen’s Bureau members.

• Klansmen terrorized public officials in efforts to drive them from office. They attacked Freedmen’s Bureau members.

• They worked to curb the education, economic advancement, voting rights, and the right to bear arms of blacks.

• When such tactics failed to produce the desired effect, their victims might be flogged, mutilated, or murdered.