First KKK

If the federal government would not allow the use of Black Codes to maintain White supremacy in the South, a terrorist group decided to take the matter outside of the law. The first Ku Klux Klan was a loose organization dedicated to political violence against freedmen and Republicans in the South after the Civil War. The organization committed terrible acts across the South which influenced the political landscape. Eventually, the organization began to fade and was then mostly eradicated by federal actions.

First KKK Definition

The First Ku Klux Klan was a domestic terrorist group established in the wake of the Reconstruction. The group sought to undermine the the voting rights of Black Americans and Republicans, employing violence and coercion to ensure white supremacy in the South. They were only the first incarnation of the group which would later be revived in two later eras.

Fig 1. Members of the First KKK

First KKK Timeline

Here is a brief timeline outlining the establishment of the First KKK:

America First KKK and First KKK Date

The KKK dates all the way back to the mid-19th century. Originally, the Ku Klux Klan was a social club. The club was founded on December 24, 1865, in Pulaski, Tennessee. The initial organizer of the group was a man named Nathan Bedford Forest. The original members had all been Confederate army veterans.

Nathan Bedford Forrest - The First Leader of the KKK

Nathan Bedford Forrest was a Confederate army general during the Civil War. Forrest was known for his success in leading cavalry troops. A particularly notable act in his role as Confederate general was the slaughtering of Black Union soldiers who had already surrendered. After the Civil War, he was a planter and railroad president. He was the first man to take on the highest title in the KKK, Grand Wizard.

Naming the KKK

Fig 2. Nathan Bedford Forrest

Organization of the KKK

The KKK was only loosely organized at higher levels across state boundaries. The lowest level was ten-person cells comprised of white men who owned a good horse and a gun. Above the cells were Giants who nominally controlled the individual cells at the county level. Above the Giants were the Titans who had limited control of all of the Giants in a Congressional district. Georgia had a state leader known as the Grand Dragon and the Grand Wizard was the leader of the entire organization.

Radical Reconstruction

Congress passed Reconstruction Acts in 1867 and 1868. These acts sent federal troops to occupy parts of the South and protect the rights of Black people. Many White Southerners were outraged. Most Southerners had lived their entire lives under a system of white supremacy. Radical Reconstruction was aimed at creating equality, which many White Southerners strongly resented.

KKK Begins Violence

The members of the KKK had largely been veterans of the Confederate army. The idea of racial equality was unacceptable to these men who had fought a war to preserve White Supremacy and human enslavement in the South. As freedmen tried to advance their way into the social and political life of the South, this upset to the existing order felt threatening to many White southerners. As a result, the social club known as the Ku Klux Klan transformed itself into a violent paramilitary group, waging guerrilla warfare and intimidation in support of White Supremacy.

KKK tactics involved dressing in white sheets ghost costumes and riding on horseback at night. Initially, much of this activity was aimed primarily at intimidation as a form of amusement for the members. The group quickly grew increasingly violent.

Political and Social Violence

Much of the most effective violence committed by the KKK was political in nature. Their targets were Black people exercising their right to vote or hold office and White Republican voters and politicians who supported racial equality. The violence even reached the level of assassinating Republican political figures.

The KKK found less success with social violence than they did with political violence. Although Black churches and schools were burned, the community managed to rebuild them. Tired of intimidation, members of the community fought back against the violence.

Fig 3. Two Members of the KKK

KKK in Georgia Timeline

Georgia was an epicenter of KKK violence. The organization's terror tactics caused a major political shift in the state in less than one year. Elections occurred throughout the year in Georgia and the results were heavily impacted by the actions of the KKK. What happened in Georgia is not totally unique, but it is a strong example of the actions and impact of the KKK.

Republican Wins in Georgia, 1968

In April of 1868, Republican Rufus Bullock won the state's gubernatorial election. Georgia elected the Original 33 in the same year. They were the first 33 Black people to be elected to the Georgia State Assembly.

As a response, the KKK conducted some of their strongest violence and intimidation yet. On March 31, a Republican political organizer named George Ashburn was murdered in Columbus, Georgia. Beyond intimidating Black people and Republicans, KKK members even harassed soldiers guarding a polling place in Columbia County. 336 murders and assaults against newly freed Black people took place from the beginning of the year through the end middle of November.

Georgia Political Shift in 1868

In Columbia County, where 1,222 people had voted for Republican Rufus Bullock, only a single vote was recorded for the Republican presidential nominee. Statewide, Democratic presidential nominee Horatio Seymour won over 64% of the vote. By the end of the year, the Original 33 had been forced out of the Georgia State Assembly.

End of the First Ku Klux Klan

When Democrats secured victories across the South in the 1870 mid-term elections, the political goals of the KKK had been largely achieved. The Democratic Party of the time had already begun to distance itself from the KKK due to its reputation. Without the perceived outrage of radical reconstruction to drive membership, the group began to lose steam. By 1872 the membership numbers had dropped significantly. In 1871, the federal government began to seriously crack down on KKK activity and many were jailed or fined.

Fig 4. KKK Members Arrested in 1872

Ku Klux Klan Act

In 1871, Congress passed the Ku Klux Klan Act which gave President Ulysses S. Grant authorization to directly pursue the KKK. Grand juries were convened, and the remnants of the loose network were largely stamped out. The act used federal agents to arrest members and tried them in federal courts which were not as sympathetic to their cause as local Southern Courts.

Later Revivals of the Ku Klux Klan

In the 1910s-20s, the KKK experienced a revival during a time of heavy immigration. In the 1950s-60s, the group experienced a third wave of popularity during the Civil Rights movement. The KKK still exists today.