Why was the KKK established?

Question

For what reason

Did reverse racism exist back then?

Princess- I have no admiration for the KKK I just wanted to see respones and thoughts

Answer 1

To keep carpetbaggers out of the southern states after the Civil War... and then everything snowballed from there.

To answer the question you asked in your edit: probably. However, I doubt anything people said made it into the public conscious, particularly because of the post-war climate in the southern states.

Answer 2

Their main reason was because they didn't want the blacks that they have used and abused to be in the same level as them. The klan was mostly made up of low, or lower middle class, and it also included middle class or rich ex-slave owners.

But now a days, it's made up of bunch of low classes and lower middle classes who has an issue or a problem with their social status. Why is it different today? It's pretty simple actually. Back in the days, the slaves or the blacks being free and having the same rights as the whites was a completely new thing and people couldn't get used to it and they panicked.


People in America has been acting this way for centuries. Like the time when tons of immigrants came in. They basically discriminated any new comers. Especially the Europeans, Jewish, and Irish. This is because the majority of the immigrants were made up by them back in the days.

Can't you see the pattern? Now a days, it's the Mexicans who makes up the majority of the immigrants coming in. And look at how some Americans reacts to this.

Answer 3

After the Civil War, it was started to keep the former slaves "in their place" by means of intimidation and worse methods, up to and including whipping and lynching. Many white Southerners were afraid, now that the status quo had been upset, that blacks might think that they were as good as their former masters, and the KKK was determined to keep blacks from enjoying the benefits of citizenship (such as voting) and even literacy (black schools or people who taught blacks to read and write were frequent targets of violence).

With the readmission of the former Confederate states to the Union and the withdrawal of Federal troops (considered to be the end of Reconstruction), many of the states that had formed the Confederacy passed the "Black Codes" (also known as the "Jim Crow" laws) and the KKK went into a sort of abeyance until after the turn of the 20th century. It was still active, but not on the same scale as it was during Reconstruction (after all, they had passed laws limiting what blacks could do), but in the period between the world wars, it sprang up again--and not only in the South, but in the Midwest and North as well, and was particularly active during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's.

It's still around nowadays, and has often formed alliances with white supremacist groups.

Answer 4

Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest organized the Klan in Pulaski, Tennessee after the Civil War because the white-folk were furious that they had to pick their own cotton for a change, and also wanted to relegate blacks to a social status somewhere way below third-class citizen... pretty much the way the South Africans continued to do well into the (very) late 20th Century with apartheid!!

(and in a nod to "Clever P"...)


Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is the name of several past and present fraternal organizations in the United States that have advocated what is generally perceived as white supremacy, antisemitism, racism, anti-Catholicism, homophobia, and nativism. These organizations have often used terrorism, violence and acts of intimidation such as cross burning to oppress African Americans and other groups.


The Klan's first incarnation was in 1866. Founded by veterans of the Confederate Army, its main purpose was to resist Reconstruction, and it focused as much on intimidating "carpetbaggers" and "scalawags" as on putting down the freed slaves. The KKK quickly adopted violent methods. A rapid reaction set in, with the Klan's leadership disowning violence and Southern elites seeing the Klan as an excuse for federal troops to continue their activities in the South. The organization was in decline from 1868 to 1870 and was destroyed in the early 1870s by President Ulysses S. Grant's vigorous action under the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act).

Answer 5

Out of the traditional ignorant fear that accompanies cultural change. (Much like radical Islam/Al Quaeda is reacting to the influence of the West through modern communication.)

People thought they could stop the integration of blacks and whites, or at least scare black people enough to "keep them in their place".

The initial KKK was billed as a religious group. It was so powerful here in Indiana that it elected a Governor and most of the General Assembly. When one of the top KKK guys was arrested and started trying to "call in favors", it brought down the whole state government! (That was way back; I forget the year. Ran across the info while researching highway development in the State Archives.)

As an undercover intelligence officer (late 1990's), I used to go to some of those KKK rallies, to watch for outbreaks of violence, and give info on instigators to uniformed officers protecting the site. Most places you went, of course, there were more protesters than KKK. However...I was at a rally in one small Indiana town where there were NO protesters...

Very strange and creepy. Just a silent, nodding group of people, listening to crazy, hate-filled ranting.

It was surreal.

Answer 6

Quoted from Wiki-
The Klan's first incarnation was in 1866. Founded by veterans of the Confederate Army, its main purpose was to resist Reconstruction, and it focused as much on intimidating "carpetbaggers" and "scalawags" as on putting down the freed slaves.

Answer 7

Sybil is right with her answer. The only thing I can add is that during reconstruction the negroes were rioting and looting the South in addition to raping the white women. The KKK was really just a way for the white people to defend themselves much the same way Zorro protected the Californian underclass.

Answer 8

During Reconstruction after the Civil War, Southerners got together to resist the Yankees attempts to punish them...

One of the things the Yankees did was put black people, who were illiterate in key government positions. The KKK originally was formed to scare the blacks. That is why they wore sheets, to appear to be ghosts.

Answer 9

Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is the name of several past and present fraternal organizations in the United States that have advocated what is generally perceived as white supremacy, antisemitism, racism, anti-Catholicism, homophobia, and nativism. These organizations have often used terrorism, violence and acts of intimidation such as cross burning to oppress African Americans and other groups.

The Klan's first incarnation was in 1866. Founded by veterans of the Confederate Army, its main purpose was to resist Reconstruction, and it focused as much on intimidating "carpetbaggers" and "scalawags" as on putting down the freed slaves. The KKK quickly adopted violent methods. A rapid reaction set in, with the Klan's leadership disowning violence and Southern elites seeing the Klan as an excuse for federal troops to continue their activities in the South. The organization was in decline from 1868 to 1870 and was destroyed in the early 1870s by President Ulysses S. Grant's vigorous action under the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act).

It went on from there to be reincarnated in other forms and unfortunately it remains alive today in the heart and minds of unfortunate individuals who still believe in hate and violence.

Where did this concept of "reverse racism" come from?

Racism is Racism regardless of what colour the Racist person is.

Answer 10

In my opinion, rednecks (no offense intended) decided to make a 'fraternity' like group and scare the people that they all hated racially and seriously it is rediculous that they did that.
For more about the KKK go to: www.kkk.bz