Ku Klux Klan, Watertown Division 289 / Hart, photographer, Watertown, Photograph shows ten men posed seated and standing, wearing hats with "KKK" in large letters, and with a skull and bones arranged on the floor in front of them.
The Ku Klux Klan (pronounced /ˈkuː ˈklʌks ˈklæn, ˈkjuː/),[a] commonly called the KKK or simply the Klan, is the name of three distinct movements in the United States that have advocated extremist reactionary positions such as white supremacy, white nationalism, anti-immigration and—especially in later iterations—Nordicism, anti-Catholicism and antisemitism. Historically, the KKK used terrorism—both physical assault and murder—against groups or individuals whom they opposed.[11] All three movements have called for the "purification" of American society and all are considered right-wing extremist organizations. The first Klan flourished in the Southern United States in the late 1860s, then died out by the early 1870s. It sought to overthrow the Republican state governments in the South during the Reconstruction Era, especially by using violence against African American leaders. With numerous chapters across the South, it was suppressed around 1871, through federal law enforcement. Members made their own, often colorful, costumes: robes, masks and conical hats, designed to be terrifying and to hide their identities. The second group was founded in the South in 1915 and it flourished nationwide in the early and mid-1920s, including urban areas of the Midwest and West. Taking inspiration from the film Birth of a Nation, which mythologized the founding of the first Klan, it employed marketing techniques and a popular fraternal organization structure. Rooted in local Protestant communities, it sought to maintain white supremacy, often took a pro-prohibition stance, and it opposed Catholics and Jews, while also stressing its opposition to the Catholic Church at a time of high immigration from mostly Catholic nations of southern and eastern Europe. This second organization adopted a standard white costume and used code words which were similar to those used by the first Klan, while adding cross burnings and mass parades to intimi
Size: 3825px × 3011px
Location: Watertown, NY, United States
Photo credit: © American Photo Archive / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1870, african, america, american, black, burning, christian, clan, cross, dragon, evil, extreme, extremist, grand, group, hate, hatred, jewelry, jewish, kkk, klan, klux, ku, men, negro, political, race, racist, secret, society, south, southern, states, supremacist, supremacy, united, violence, violent, watertown, white, wing, wizard, york
