Ku Klux Klan

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History & Society

Ku Klux Klan

hate organization, United States

Also known as: KKK

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Apr 5, 2024 • Article History

Ku Klux Klan: 2016 rally

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Category: History & Society

Date:: 1915 - present; 1866 - c. 1870

Areas Of Involvement:: terrorism; white supremacy; hate crime

Related People:: Nathan Bedford Forrest; Hugo Black

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Ku Klux Klan, either of two distinct U.S. hate organizations that employed terror in pursuit of their white supremacist agenda. One group was founded immediately after the Civil War and lasted until the 1870s. The other began in 1915 and has continued to the present. The 19th-century Klan was originally organized as a social club by Confederate veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1866. They apparently derived the name from the Greek word kyklos, from which comes the English “circle”; “Klan” was added for the sake of alliteration and Ku Klux Klan emerged. The organization quickly became a vehicle for Southern ...(100 of 1035 words)

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