What was the Ku Klux Klan?

When talking
about the Ku Klux Klan (better known as the KKK), we need to distinguish between two versions of
it.  The KKK was strong in the South during the Reconstruction era.  It was strong again, but
not only in the South, in the 1920s.  To truly talk about the KKK, we must discuss these eras
separately.

In its original incarnation, the KKK was founded in 1866.  The
main goal of the organization at that time was to resist Reconstruction.  In order to do this,
it tried to intimidate people who supported the Reconstruction governments in the South.  It did
this largely through violence.  Many of the people whom it intimidated were African Americans
and the Klan was a white supremacist organization.

After Reconstruction, the
KKK largely lost its purpose in the South.  However, when the 1920s came around, it returned to
prominence.  This time, it was less of an anti-black organization and more of an anti-immigrant
and anti-modernity organization.  The new KKK was in favor of 100% Americanism.  It felt that
traditional American values were being degraded by the new immigrants.  It was especially
opposed to Catholics and Jews.  It also hated the new morality that gave rise to such things as
the flappers.  The KKK was strongly in favor of Prohibition.  It was still white supremacist,
but it was more concerned with opposing immigrants and people who did not hold the same
traditional values as the KKK.

Thus, the KKK has had two different
incarnations.  First, it was an anti-black and anti-Reconstruction organization.  Later, it was
more concerned with preserving what it saw as Americanism and with fighting the influence of
immigrants and modernity.