EOTO 2 Reactions Blog

For my reaction blog post to our most recent EOTO, I want to write and do some extra research on the first Ku Klux Klan. I've learned about the second and third incarnations of the KKK in the past, but I haven't really learned of their origins.

When people think of the Ku Klux Klan, they most likely think of its second and third incarnations. White pointy hoods and cross-burnings are the most (for the lack of a better word) "iconic" symbols of the Klan. However, the first Klan had neither, and is the most differentiated out of the three incarnations of the Klan.

3 arrested Klan Members
in uniform in 1871

The original Ku Klux Klan was founded by Confederate veterans in 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee. Obviously, the Klan's core beliefs were in white supremacy, the re-establishment of a whites-only government. However, they lacked the anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, and anti-Catholic beliefs that would come with later incarnations of the Klan.

Of course, there are many similarities to later incarnations as well. The Klan quickly became deeply entrenched in anti-black in anti-Republican violence in the South. Assaults, murders, arson, lynchings, and voter intimidation were a large part of the Klan's activities.

Another commonality with the second incarnation of the KKK was that the first Klan was very disorganized. Though Nathan Bedford Forrest was elected as the Grand Wizard of the first official leader of the KKK, almost all chapters operated entirely independently.

For the first few years of the Ku Klux Klan, they enjoyed success. The Klan succeeded at suppressing votes for republicans and black leaders in multiple counties during the election of 1869, even though Ulysses S. Grant, a Republican, would win anyway. However, the Grand Wizard Forrest became disenchanted with Klan.

Nathan Bedford Forrest

In an interview, Forrest called the clan a "protective political military organization" for the Democratic party. However, in 1869, Forrest called for the Klan to disband as he felt that it had strayed from this purpose, upsetting the peace and safety of the public rather than protecting it. Due to the Klan's independent nature, it would continue to operate against Forrest's wishes until the Ku Klux Klan Act was passed in 1871, which made it difficult for Klan members to operate without criminal punishments.