Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
The Ku Kux Klan is the oldest known hate group in the United States. It was founded in 1866 by a group of former Confederate veterans and began a social club in Pulaski, Tennessee. By 1870, the KKH had spread to almost every southern state and became a vehicle for white resistance to political and economic equality for blacks. Their message of intolerance grew over the years to include all minorities, homosexuals and non-Christian religions.
Members of the Ku Klux Klan were responsible for hundreds of acts of violence in the decades since their start. During the height of the Civil Rights movement, KKK members firebombed churches and civil right leaders’ homes. The bombings killed prominent civil right leader Harry Tyson Moore and his wife, and four little girls in Birmingham, Alabama. The KKK also murdered James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner during Freedom Summer in 1964.
Over the years, the influence and membership of the KKK has waned as they have affiliated with more powerful and organized white supremacist groups. Today, the KKK has an estimated 5,000 to 8,000 members.