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None, the Encyclopedia Americana, Grolier Incorporated 1994 Page (588-589) 2. Lowe, David, KKK The Invisible Empire. Columbia Broadcasting 1967 Page (-) 3. Randle, William, P. The Ku Klux Klan A Century of Infamy. Division of Chilton 4. Alexander, Charles, C. The Ku Klux Klan in the southwest. University of Kentucky 5. Trelease, Allen, W. White Terror. LSU Press edition, 1971 Page (-) 6. None, The World Book Encyclopedia, World Book, inc. 1995 Page (389-390) Internet 1.http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/07102thefirstkukluxklan.html The First KKK 2. http://www.hatewatch.co.up/klan/1st_era.html History of the Ku Klux Klan: The era. Robert Arjet 7/3/99 The Ku Klux Klan originated in today’s Southeast. However, back in the 1860’s it was just the South. the Ku Klux Klan was not ever based on Scottish clans evan though the Ku Klux Klan has been seed to be based on Scottish clans. The Ku Klux Klan started as a group of men that were in the Civil War together they would do this some time around 1865-1866. They would go to the bar and talk about the old days of being in the war. One night, one of the guys named Nathan Bedford said, “Hey, you guys, let’s go over to that Nigger’s house and scare the vergesus out of him”.1 This all happened in Pulasky, Tennessee in 1865. We all know how word gets around and in a few months the Ku Klux Klan was officially a racial organization. They did not have a name yet , but that was cleared up very easily. The Ku Klux Klan got their name from the Greek word kyklos, meaning circle and the English word clan; Nathan Bedford gave the Ku Klux Klan that name. Nathan Bedford was a general in the civil war and he was also the one that had the idea to terrify the black man that night, because of this he took command of the Ku Klux Klan when it was started, he was also the first original klan leader. The Ku Klux Klan called Nathan Bedford the grand wizard. The Ku Klux Klan originally would gather and discuss the superiority of whites and other things related to the blacks and other racial groups. The Ku Klux Klan wanted to keep blacks from voting or using other rights given after the Civil War. The Ku Klux Klan threatened beating or killing black men. The Klan had only terrorized blacks by burning crosses late at night on the blacks property or wherever they lived. The Ku Klux Klan soon started to beat blacks and then they progressed into killing blacks. So the Ku Klux Klan members would not be identified, they wore robes and hoods, draped sheets over their horses and rode at night. The Ku Klux Klan’s men robes and disguises for their horses were made by women who never said anything about what they were doing as they made them. “Susan Lawrence Davis dedicated this to the women in her Authentic History: Ku Klux Klan, published in 1924: To My Mother, Sara Ann ( McClellan s) Davis, and the other southern Women Who Designed and Manufactured with Their Own Fingers the Regalia for the Ku Klux Klansmen and the Their horses, and to the Ku Klux Klan 1865-1877 Both the Living and the Dead, This History is Gratefully One night the six original Klan’s men rode through the streets of Pulaski, amusing people by using nasty gestures. The next morning people said that the blacks thought that the riders were the ghosts of Confederate soldiers. The Ku Klux Klan did this to try to scare blacks back to work on the plantations. The thought that they may be able to scare the blacks into work brought more interest in joining the Ku Klux Klan They did this many more times not only for more members but also to get a rise out of the blacks; they thought it was funny. They would also ask a black to get a bucket of water and pretended to drink the whole bucket in one big long drink. The way the Ku Klux Klan would do this is they would have a funnel attached to a tube and at the other end of the tube it was attached to a pouch they would hide all of this under there robes. Then the Ku Klux Klan would make a smacking noise and then the member would say that’s the first drink I’ve had since I was killed at, say Shiloh or Gettysberg. The Ku Klux Klan would also ask a black to shake hands and then they would extend their hand and the hand would be a skeleton arm or a wood arm. Another joke that the Ku Klux Klan would play on the blacks is to ride up on a horse and have a fake head on their shoulders and would remove the head and hand it to a black person and say can you hold this for a while. These are some of the jokes that the Ku Klux Klan originally played on the blacks, By March of 1866, the Klan had a permanent place to meet, it was in Pulaski, Tennessee, at Dr. Ben Carter’s old house at the end of town that was partly destroyed by a tornado they called it the den. Southerners hearing about the Ku Klux Klan were normally eager to join, but an early rule given by the founders in Pulaski seemed to have been followed by everyone: New members are not to be looked for; they must come to the Ku Klux Klan themselves. What members would do is pretend to not be a part of the Ku Klux Klan and talk to their friends about joining and if the friend said yes we should join, the member would take their friend to the ceremony for initiation. The way a new member initiated was like this, “The would-be member, alone or with a Klansmen friend, approached the den after dark, there he was challenged by an outer guard called “Lictor”, who blew a whistle to summon a courier “Night Hawk” Blindfolded, the applicant was led into the den, where the Grand Turk put a series of questions to him. If his responses were not satisfactory, he was taken outside and dismissed. If the answers were right, the order was given to drape the “royal robe” over his shoulders, place the “royal crown” on his head, and strap around his waist the “sacred belt.” He was then told to repeat, phrase by phrase as read to him, the Ku Klux Klan oath. In addition to containing the usual vows never to reveal the signs, symbols, grip, password, or secrets of the order, the oath forbid him ever to reveal his membership and pledge him to abstain from alcoholic beverages as long as he remained an active member. When the oath was completed, the blindfold was removed and the new member saw in the alter (a mirror) that his robe was a donkey skin, his crown an old torn hat bedecked with donkey ears, and his sword belt a common sandalbelt. At this point seriousness gave way to good nature horseplay for as long as it could be kept up.”3 The Grand Turk was the master of ceremonies. People that were too young to enter the Ku Klux Klan were led out of the den and were left sitting on a dead tree. After a while they would get tired of sitting there and take off the blindfold to realize that they weren’t at the den anymore. People who were unwanted, not because of their age or wrong answers, would be rolled down a hill in a barrel. They made sure not to roll somebody of any importance from town down a hill in The original six members weren’t enough to handle all that was needed, and they did not want new members on the leader’s bench. All there was, was the original leader of the Ku Klux Klan, Nathan Bedford, the Grand Wizard. His second in command, known as the Grand Turk, was the master of ceremonies. Calvin Jones and John Lester were Night Hawks or couriers, and Richard Reed was the first Lictor meaning guard. New names were thought of for the next few members that were initiated. After that, new The names that they had have nothing in common but had a certain weirdness to them, I mean, if you just listen to them, Grand Wizard, Grand Turk, and Night Hawks those are some weird names if you ask me. The only name that really meant what the member’s job was is Lictor, because the Lictor was really a type of guard He would guard the den where the meetings were held so that no reporters or just someone with an interest in what was going on at the Ku Klux Klan’s meetings could walk up and look through the windows or wherever they might be able to look in. When people from other towns wanted to start another Ku Klux Klan gang in their town, the Pulaski Klan took the responsibility of enlisting members for the other towns Klan and putting Klan members that were suited for the job on the leaders bench for that town. Because the Ku Klux Klan spread so fast, they stopped doing the initiations for each new town’s klan and let them start out themselves. At first the original den in Pulaski would watch the other Klan’s very closely to see how they would take care of problems that arose. One of the Klan’s that they would watch is one in Athens, Alabama. Athens had a problem and the Pulaski klan wanted to see how they would handle the it. The problem they had was like this “Northern school teachers had been shaking the very foundations of southern tradition by treating their Negro students as human beings on a level with themselves. Colonel Lawrence R. Davis of Athens asked an old friend, Captain Lester, for advice, and the notion of the Klan then was the obvious answer. No such practical purpose has attended the creation of the Pulaski Den; it is significant that the organizing of the first new “chapter” regulation - meaning active measures to preserve the old racial-relationship was the acknowledged motive, the Pulaskian’s, if they wished to preserve their own original purpose as a strictly social group, could have withheld approval. It is more reasonable to suppose that they quite willingly accepted for the Klan the practice of intimidating Negro’s and had no reluctance about encouraging like minded groups elsewhere to adopt the same practice. The Pulaski Grand Wizard, Nathan Bedford, joined Captain Lester in administrating the oath to the fifteen chapter members at Athens. A good sight had been selected “ the cove” a natural amphitheater deep in the woods about three miles out of town. After the ceremonies, the maintaining of white supremacy was decided and it was decided to make this the chief purpose of the Ku Klux Klan.”4 A week later at the “Cove” a lot more members were added to the second den (den # 2). The new members thought that it was time for fun and mischief, but there was no time for that because of the Northern school teachers that were talking to the blacks as people, the Ku Klux Klan had to prevent this from happening again in others towns and Few Ku Klux Klan’s members are as well know as the original six members. They were also the founders of the Ku Klux Klan. They were not just some guys off the street that hated blacks, so they decided to start a racial group. They were actually well respected men inside and outside the Ku Klux Klan. There is a plaque that is dedicated to the original Klan’s members in Pulaski, Tennessee. This plaque was unveiled on May 21st, 1917 by the last living man of the original 6 members. Now there are many plaques similar to the original plaque dedicated to the original members (there may have been 6 or 7 original members but history is not sure) after a few months everybody in Tennessee wanted to join the Ku Klux Klan. The six original members Nathan Bedford is not listed on this plaque because he was the one who dedicated the plaque to the other members, since he was the last living original members. The Ku Klux Klan was and still is a big influence, not a good influence at all but not necessarily a bad influence in the United States of America. If the Ku Klux Klan had never existed history may have been a lot different. If the Ku Klux Klan had not been around the Civil Rights Movement may not have ever happened. In the aspect that if The Ku Klux Klan had never been there to terrorize and influence others to terrorize the blacks. Bibliography: Bibliography Books, Journals, or Articles 1. None, the Encyclopedia Americana, Grolier Incorporated 1994 Page (588-589) 2. Lowe, David, KKK The Invisible Empire. Columbia Broadcasting 1967 Page (-) 3. Randle, William, P. The Ku Klux Klan A Century of Infamy. Division of Chilton Company 1965 Page (-) 4. Alexander, Charles, C. The Ku Klux Klan in the southwest. University of Kentucky Press 1965 Page (-) 5. Trelease, Allen, W. White Terror. LSU Press edition, 1971 Page (-) 6. None, The World Book Encyclopedia, World Book, inc. 1995 Page (389-390) Internet 1.http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/07102thefirstkukluxklan.html The First KKK Author unknown 2. http://www.hatewatch.co.up/klan/1st_era.html History of the Ku Klux Klan: The era. Robert Arjet 7/3/99 11 Word Count: 2295
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