The Ku Klux Klan was a notorious racial group that would commit hate crimes.
against people of African-American, Jewish, and Catholic decent. They came to power.
after the American Civil War. Today the Klan is still trying to obtain their original goal of.
white supremacy, but are going about it in a very different manner. When they first began.
everything that they wanted to accomplish was done through violent hate crimes. Today.
they are going about their business through politics instead of with a criminal instinct.1.
The KKK, as they were known by most people, was first formed after the.
American Civil War by a group of Confederate Army veterans in Pulaski Tennessee the.
year 1866. Their elected Grand Wizard, or leader, was a former Confederate general,.
Nathan Bedford Forrest. The Klan's first main goal was to stop the African American's .
from voting. Other groups involved in this idea of white supremacy were the White.
Brotherhood, the Men of Justice, the constitutional Union Guards, and the Knights of the.
White Camelia. .
These groups were established to counteract the influence that the radical members.
of Congress were trying to inflict upon the South. After the Civil War, Congress's first.
goal was to destroy the white power structure of the Rebel states. The member's of.
Congress at this time also set up the organization known as the Freeman's Bureau. This.
was an organization set up to help the newly freed African Americans with a place to live,.
work, a place to go to school, and better health facilities. Congress however had a difficult.
time making this bill become a law. The KKK was not their only opponent. President.
Johnson vetoed that bill along with a Civil Rights Bill. .
Times for the white supremacists were only getting worse too. The election of.
1866 increased the number of Radical Republicans in Congress. The South was now being.
divided up into five different military regions. Each region was governed under a major.
