Psychology

Mission statement of the KKK
The Ku Klux Klan commonly known as the KKK is a group which is termed a racists association of Christian white fellows that frightened, tortured as well as killed the black Americans, immigrants, Jewish citizens and Roman Catholics. The chief purpose of the establishment of the KKK was to bring a restoration to the supremacy of the whites immediately after the period following the civil war in America. The values and principles held by the Ku Klux Klan did not portray anything to cause harm or take the form of a racist group in the first place. The mission of the Klan apparently was to address the needs of the poor and the vulnerable. The main aim of the Ku Klux Klan in the first place was to form a social club to-

Offer protection for the innocent, weak and hopeless from wrongs, lawless outrages as well as keeping from the indignities.

Offer defense and protection to the United States constitution and every law passed conforming thereof as well as protecting the people and the states from illegal seizure

The social club spread and got its members by way of the clubs and newspapers and suddenly became an organization having origins in most states from the South of America. Well, some whites were opposed to the freedom that was coming to the slaves and that is why the whole subject changed. It no longer remained the good values and principles portrayed through their aforementioned functions as a Klan. They felt that their socio-economic ways were threatened through the freeing of slaves. As a result of this, many whites sought refuge in Ku Klux Klan. More and more people joined and ideas started to change making the Klan to gradually tend to be violent. Sooner than it was expected, the group became uncontrolled where the blacks became victims of the violent attacks by the Ku Klux Klan (About the Ku Klux Klan).

The KKK Establishment
The Klan constituted three branches Pulaski branch in Tennessee back in the year 1866. The people involved in its formation were the confederate Army veterans. The group took on the name of Ku Klux Klan from both English and Greek world.  Kuklos was a Greek word which was included in the name meaning circle whereas the English word clan was used to form part of the name. The Klan put on white masks as well as white sheets covering their bodies to provide an identity cover.  Their horses were also covered with white robes. The Klan worked with rules. These rules required each member to be in possession of a pistol, an instrument of signal and a robe meant for KKK (About the Ku Klux Klan).

Major Events
Between 1868  1870
The KKK carried out a very chief role in bringing a restoration of the North Carolina white rule. This included also places such as Georgia as well as Tennessee. Those who were impacted were the blacks, anti-Christians as well as those who were not Americans. All these were a victims of the action carried out by the Ku Klux Klan. The main mission during this time was to make the blacks unable to vote. The attacks made by the Klan are normally done at night. They carry out lousy things which include such things like the burning of churches, house breaking and torturing innocent human beings by dragging them from their sleep beds. The situation even goes worse as they can also murder these people.

Politicians Attacked
The goal now changed to frighten the blacks on political grounds by making sure that they did not succeed in voting. The members were not actually after the weak in the society in helping them but were found to even target the top most officials of the government that were in the forefront in abolishing the slave trade. One of these top most affected top most officials was Senator William Wyatt who was taken in the night from his house by members of Ku Klux Klan and severely beaten up with pistol, leaving him unconscious. The chief goal of all this was to act as a proof to the government that the masses were not afraid and that they were not ready to be subjugated under any regime. The people wanted to show the politicians that they could not be stopped in fighting for what they believed was right according to them. On the same night that the Senator William was attacked, several Negro women were whipped harshly for the reason of living like mistresses. These actions were very outrageous and impacted a lot on the results of the following campaign.

The organizations in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee began recruiting members during this time with other intentions. Restrictions began be emerge on who to join the Klan.  A criterion was set for an individual to join the Klan purely Americanism, law together with order, white supremacy, and anti-Semitism as well as womanhood purity. The big town centers had mixed cultures and ethnicities and therefore the Klan began to look for members in places where the African Americans were few. The places mainly included the small southern cities as well as villages. All through this period in time, the KKK started being violent which forced the government to take actions legally against them. The members continued to grow rapidly and the brutalism by the KKK became uncontrolled. Nathan Forest disbanded the group in 1968 alleging that the Klan was being driven away from its initial patriotic as well as honorable intentions. The Klan was becoming deleterious instead of offering protection and peace as earlier seen in its mission statement.

Government Intervention
Nathan Forests impact as a leader had some result though did not suffice the change needed. The hope of the victims of the KKK now entirely remained on the government. It was now an offense to infringe the rights of an individual through color discrimination or else through ethnicity. The Act of civil rights of 1971 by Benjamin Franklin commonly referred to as the KKK act was passed since some states in the south were reluctant during the process of reconstruction in America.  It now became the responsibility of the police to arrest any person who was a member of a racist group or organization.

In addition to this, the actions of the military were included at times by Grand, the then president.   After the process of reconstruction, a turning point was realized through the movie aired in 1915 concerning the nations birth which whose director was Griffith.  In the movie, the African Americans are demonstrated as the major reason for the matters of domestic during that time in America. However, this movie caused a major come back of the KKK as the Klan was formed again in Georgia where the burning of a cross took place (The Birth of a Nation 1915).

Previously, the KKK had not come to the point of burning crosses although other social groups were found to do so. The movie also showed cross burning. This second group of KKK was founded by Colonel William. He thought that the movie was a tool of reforming the Klan. By 1920, 5,000 people became members. This number grew to millions in the years that followed. This was facilitated by the immigrant settlements that came from Asia and Europe. The Klan was also against the Catholics, Communist and the Jews. The science of anthropology and genetics was an issue that was in fear of the KKK.

The science stated that human beings came from distinct biological races and that the races were a determinant of specific characteristics of industriousness and intelligence. Moreover, the science stated that some races were essentially superior to other races. The interbreeding of the particular races was to be stopped because science provided information stating that the superior race would be degraded. A collaboration made by Colonel William was in the intentions of getting access to financial aid as well as in the efforts of recruiting new members. William formed an alliance with the Southern Publicity Organization which managed the membership during the First World War in the Society of Red Cross among others.

A fee of 10 was charged during this time by William and the stability of the organization was established after several years. The KKK now advanced in matters of politics than it was in the beginning. Regarded as the invisible empire, it helped in the election of presidents as well as sending particular delegates of political parties to national conventions between 1924 through to 1928. It was such a surprise for a group like the KKK to get so much involved in the affairs of the government. For some years, the KKK position and stand could not be thwarted (About the Ku Klux Klan).            
In 1915
This is the year in which the second Klan was established. Its growth was indeed very fast. This Klan was relatively big compared to the first one as it comprised many members. Power was demonstrated and the victims intimidated through cross burning. Murders together with violence were mostly spread in the south. The south was mostly affected because of cases of lawlessness because there was no established authority.  The members constituting the Klan around 1925 were almost 4 to 5 million. In the year 1960, it was such an amazing scenario to find out that out of the 42 blacks population, it was only a marginal 2 who were legible voters through registration. The black population was terrorized through lynching.

October 1921
This was the time when William was required to explain the activities of KKK before the House Committee of the United States of America. William stated out that it was a patriotic social organization that was in no way a corrective and a regulative organization. This question was answered in a very polite, relaxed way with humor and a lot of sarcasm. All hopes of beating him were doomed in the house from the way he answered his questions. He was very cautious not to reveal any truth concerning the KKK. This saw the conversation coming to an end without any action taken against William and his group.

Steep Decline Period
In a period of few months, KKKs power days came to an end. This period was caused by disagreements which took place internally, scandals, fading of the image of romance of the group as well as propagated activism carried out by the opponents. The supporters of KKK were now reduced to 30,000 in 1930 after an amazing membership of 5 million in 1920s. In 1944, the KKK was later disbanded after there were proposed claims that they did not make payments for the federal taxes (Ku Klux Klan).

September 15th, 1963
This was on a Sunday when a white fellow was seen alighting from a car and went ahead to place a box just beneath the stairs of the Baptist Church (Sixteenth Street). Later on at around a half past ten in the morning, there was an explosion that led to the killing of Addie Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Denise MC Nair and Carole Robertson. These four girls attended classes for Sunday school at the premises of the church. Moreover, the blast hurt twenty three more people badly. The member of the Ku Klux Klan known as Robert Chambliss was pointed out as the culprit in this case by a witness.

Later on Robert was arrested as well as charged in a court of law with a murder case and because of being in possession of dynamite sticks totaling to 122, illegally. On October the same year, Robert was found innocent and was given a fine of a hundred dollars and a jail sentence of six months for being in possession of dynamite sticks illegally. All this time, the bombing of the church was not solved. Bill Baxley became the attorney general in Alabama through an election. He made a request for the original files of FBI concerning the case and realized that the organization had huge evidence against Robert that was not utilized in original trial.

November 1977
Trial came once again for Robert concerning the case. By this time, he was 73 years old and was found guilty of the bombing and thus was given a life imprisonment sentence. Immediately afterwards, more information confirmed that Herman Cash, Bobby Cherry and Thomas Blanton were part of the accomplice. Cherry together with Blanton were arrested. It was not until 2002 when Cherry, aged 71 was convicted of murdering the four girls and was also given a life imprisonment sentence. During the time of the Great Depression, the popularity of the Ku Klux Klan fell terribly and more so in the period following the Second World War.

Ku Klux Klan Today
In these modern times, the Klan is still in existence but the power within cannot be compared to that of the ancient times. Its strength has significantly reduced. The members of the group are a very small number compared to the original one when it was beginning. The Ku Klux Klan more often than not regards itself as the Ku Klux Klans fifth era. The Invisible Empire is their title nowadays. It is no longer referred to as the Ku Klux Klan but the Ku Klux Klan Knights.  It is known all throughout the world as it has an effect in many countries after it ended. The impact of racism was felt in many parts of the world not only in the USA.