The Klan

The Ku Klux Klan commonly called the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist hate group .The Klan has existed in three distinct eras at different points in time during the history of the United States. Each has advocated extremist reactionary positions such as white nationalism, anti immigration and especially in later iteration Nordicism and anti catholicism. The first Klan flourished in the Southern United States in the late 1860s after the American Civil War, then died out by the early 1870s. It sought to overthrow the Republican state governments in the South, especially by using violence against African American leaders. The second Klan was founded in Georgia in 1915 and it flourished nationwide in the early and mid 1920s, including urban area of the midwest and west. Taking inspiration from D.W. Griffith's 1915 silent film The Birth of a Nation, which mythologized the founding of the first Klan, it employed marketing techniques and a popular fraternal organization structure. The third and current manifestation of the KKK emerged after 1950, in the form of localized and isolated groups that use the KKK name. They have focused on opposition to the civil rights movement, often using violence and murder to suppress activists. It is classified as a hate group by the Anti Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center.