Ku Klux Klan

US secret society dedicated to white supremacy. It was founded in 1866 to oppose Reconstruction in the Southern states after the American Civil War and to deny political rights to the black population. Members wore hooded white robes to hide their identity, and burned crosses at their night-time meetings. In the late 20th century the Klan evolved into a paramilitary extremist group and forged loose ties with other white supremacist groups.

It was originally headed by former Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest and was disbanded 1869 under pressure from members who opposed violence. Scattered groups continued a campaign of lynching and flogging, prompting anti-Klan laws 1871. The group re-emerged 1915 as an antiblack, anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic, right-wing group that portrayed itself as fervently patriotic, with membership reaching more than 4 million in the 1920s. Klan membership dropped during the Great Depression of the 1930s and remained largely inactive until the 1960s, when it was publicized for terrorizing civil-rights activists and organizing racist demonstrations.