Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan, secret organization originally begun (1866) by ex-Confederates in the U.S. South to conduct a campaign of terror against newly enfranchised blacks. Its members disguised themselves in hoods and white sheets and used whippings and lynchings to terrorize their victims. Although the first Klan was officially disbanded in 1869, many members remained active throughout reconstruction and beyond. The second Klan, organized in 1915, extended its hostilities to Jews, Catholics, pacifists, and the foreign born. In the 1920s it had 5 million members and its political power extended to the North. Officially disbanded in 1944, the Klan revived in response to civil rights activism of the 1960s and was involved in violent racial confrontations in the early 1980s.

See also: Racism.