15. Ku Klux Klan 1860

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cayCYpxtIyo

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_org_kkk.html

The first Ku Klux Klan flourished in the Southern United States in the late 1860s, then died out by the early 1870s. Members made their own, often colorful, costumes: robes, masks, and conical hats, designed to be terrifying, and to hide their identities. The second KKK flourished nationwide in the early and mid-1920s, particularly in urban areas of the Midwest and West. It adopted a standard white costume (sales of which together with initiation fees financed the movement) and code words as the first Klan, while adding cross burnings and mass parades. It stressed opposition to the Catholic Church. The third KKK emerged in the form of small local unconnected groups after 1950. They focused on opposition to the Civil Rights Movement, often using violence and murder to suppress activists. The second and third incarnations of the Ku Klux Klan made frequent reference to the America's "Anglo-Saxon" blood, hearkening back to 19th-century nativism. Though members of the KKK swore to uphold American values and Christian morality, virtually every Christian denomination officially denounced the KKK.

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), or simply "the Klan", is the name of three distinct past and present movements in the United States that have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically expressed through terrorism aimed at groups or individuals whom they opposed. The first organization 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 enforcement. The second group was founded in 1915 and after 1921 it rapidly expanded into a very large nationwide organization. It opposed Catholics and Jews, especially newer immigrants. The current manifestation consists of numerous small unconnected groups that use the KKK name. All three movements have called for the purification of American society, and all are considered right-wing extremist organizations.