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Since the late 1860s, there have been many organizations that have used the title "Ku Klux Klan" or have split off from KKK groups using different names.
During Reconstruction, there were a number of white supremacist paramilitary groups that were organized in order to resist the reconstruction measures. While the Ku Klux Klan was the most famous group, it overlapped in membership and ideology with a number of others. In some cases, they were virtually indistinguishable from each other. [1]
Between the Reconstruction period, known as the Klan's "first era", and the rebirth of the modern movement in 1915, there were a handful of groups that scholars have identified as "bridges" that engaged in similar vigilante activities and introduced Klan-type organizing into areas that were untouched by Reconstruction. [2] [ full citation needed ] In some cases, small towns often had so-called "decency committees" or "vigilance committees", which often used vigilante tactics against targets such as criminals, prostitutes, drunkards, and in some instances, Black people, Native Americans, Mexicans, Chinese Americans, European immigrants, Catholics, Mormons, and non-Christians, including Jews and atheists. Sometimes, in fact, their attire or their disguises resembled those which were worn by the KKK.[ citation needed ]
During the "second era" , the KKK movement saw the rise and decline of one of the largest and most influential Klan factions, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Inc. There were a few splinter groups, though, such as the Knights of the Flaming Sword, founded by ousted Imperial Wizard William J. Simmons and the Independent Klan of America, founded by Indiana Grand Dragon D. C. Stephenson. [3] [ full citation needed ] The 1930s saw the growth of fascist-leaning groups such as the Black Legion and a revived Knights of the White Camellia. [4] [ full citation needed ] It was also during this time period, that, for the first time ever, some KKK groups began to openly establish working relationships with pro-Nazi and pro-fascist groups, such as the German-American Bund and the Silver Shirts. The KKK also openly worked alongside the Anti-Saloon League, in order to achieve their shared goal of enforcing prohibition.
In the period roughly between the end of World War II and the passage of the Supreme Court's so-called "Black Monday" ruling in Brown v. Board of Education , a number of small local "associations of Klans" were active, mainly in the Southeastern states. [5] [ citation needed ]
During the period of the civil rights movement in the late 1950s and 1960s, the Klan experienced its "third era" which saw the growth of a number of KKK groups that sought to resist desegregation, by peaceful as well as violent means. However, desegregation was not their only target, other targets of the Klan's protests and hatred included the 1960s counterculture, labor unions, divorce, the theory of Evolution, liberalism, and so-called Jewish Bolshevism. It was also during this time that many Klan groups began to work with other white supremacist groups like the White Citizens' Council, the American Nazi Party and the National States' Rights Party.[ citation needed ]
Since the 1970s, the Klan's popularity, both among racists and the general public, has been in consistent decline. Just between 2016 and 2019 the number of self-identified Klan groups dropped from 130 to 51. [6] While this may be partially influenced by popular public opinion against the Klan's views, it may also be influenced by the Klan's perceived modern lack of relevance among Americans whose politics tilt toward racist ideologies. Many factions of the Klan began to form alliances with neo-Nazi groups, some members of the American militia movement, and other right-wing extremists, with the goal of cross-recruitment. [7]
Since the foundation of the original Klan, a number of Ku Klux Klan groups and chapters have emerged outside the United States in places like Canada, Europe and South America.
The Ku Klux Klan, commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is the name of an American white supremacist, far-right terrorist organization and hate group. Various historians, including Fergus Bordewich, have characterized the Klan as America's first terrorist group. There have been three distinct iterations with various targets relative to time and place, including African Americans, Jews, and Catholics.
White Aryan Resistance (WAR) is a white supremacist and neo-Nazi organization in the United States which was founded and formerly led by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon Tom Metzger. It was based in Warsaw, Indiana, and it was also incorporated as a business. In 1993, the group expanded into Canada.
Eldon Lee Edwards was an American Ku Klux Klan leader.
The Imperial Klans of America, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (IKA) is a white supremacist, white nationalist, neo-Nazi paramilitary organization. Until the late 2000s, it was the second largest Klan group in the United States, and at one point in the early 2000s, it was the largest. In 2008, the IKA was reported to have at least 23 chapters in 17 states, most of which were small.
The grand wizard is the national leader of several different Ku Klux Klan organizations in the United States and abroad.
Thomas Robb is an American white supremacist, Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard and Christian Identity pastor. He is the National Director of the Knights Party, also known as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, taking control of the organization since the year 1989.
Ku Klux Klan auxiliaries are organized groups that supplement, but do not directly integrate with the Ku Klux Klan. These auxiliaries include: Women of the Ku Klux Klan, The Jr. Ku Klux Klan, The Tri-K Girls, the American Crusaders, The Royal Riders of the Red Robe, The Ku Klux balla, and the Klan's Colored Man auxiliary.
The national leader of the Ku Klux Klan is called either a Grand Wizard or an Imperial Wizard, depending on which KKK organization is being described.
This is a list of topics related to racism:
The White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) organization which is active in the United States. It originated in Mississippi and Louisiana in the early 1960s under the leadership of Samuel Bowers, its first Imperial Wizard. The White Knights of Mississippi were formed in December 1963, when they separated from the Original Knights of Mississippi after the resignation of Imperial Wizard Roy Davis. Roughly 200 members of the Original Knights of Louisiana also joined the White Knights. Within a year, their membership was up to around six thousand, and they had Klaverns in over half of the counties in Mississippi. By 1967, the number of active members had declined to around four hundred. Similar to the United Klans of America (UKA), the White Knights are very secretive about their group.
The United Klans of America Inc. (UKA), based in Alabama, is a Ku Klux Klan organization active in the United States. Led by Robert Shelton, the UKA peaked in membership in the late 1960s and 1970s, and it was the most violent Klan organization of its time. Its headquarters was the Anglo-Saxon Club outside Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Robert Marvin Shelton was an American salesman and printer who became notorious for being the Imperial Wizard of the United Klans of America (UKA), a Ku Klux Klan group, active from the early 1960s until 1987.
Arthur Hornbui Bell was an attorney and the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey.
Ku Klux Klan (KKK) nomenclature has evolved over the order's nearly 160 years of existence. The titles and designations were first laid out in the original Klan's prescripts of 1867 and 1868, then revamped with William J. Simmons's Kloran of 1916. Subsequent Klans have made various modifications.
The Canadian branch of the Ku Klux Klan was an expansion of the second Ku Klux Klan established in the United States in 1915. It operated as a fraternity, with chapters established in parts of Canada throughout the 1920s and early 1930s. The first registered provincial chapter was registered in Toronto in 1925 by two Americans and a Canadian. The organization was most successful in Saskatchewan, where it briefly influenced political activity and whose membership included a member of Parliament, Walter Davy Cowan.
The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is a group styled after the original Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Formed around 2012, it aims to "restore America to a White, Christian nation founded on God's word".
A White ethnostate is a proposed type of state in which residence or citizenship would be limited to Whites, and non-Whites and any other groups not seen as White would be excluded from citizenship. Native populations would also be excluded from citizenship, such as the indigenous peoples of the United States.
White Marylanders are White Americans living in Maryland. As of 2019, they comprise 57.3% of the state's population. 49.8% of the population is non-Hispanic white, making Maryland a majority minority state. The regions of Western Maryland, Southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore all have majority white populations. Many white Marylanders also live in Central Maryland, including Baltimore, as well as in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Garrett County (97.5%) and Carroll County (91.9%) are the counties with the highest percentage of white Americans. Garrett and Carroll counties also have the highest percentage of non-Hispanic whites at 96.3% and 88.7%, respectively. Prince George's County (27%), Baltimore (30.4%), and Charles County (42.8%) have the lowest percentages of white people. Prince George's County has the lowest percentage of non-Hispanic whites, at 12.5% of the population. White Marylanders are a minority in Baltimore, Cambridge, Charles County, Jessup, Owings Mills, Prince George's County, Randallstown, and White Oak. Non-Hispanic whites are the plurality in Montgomery County, Columbia, Elkridge, Reisterstown, Salisbury, and Severn.