Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan, with its long history of violence, is the oldest and most infamous of American hate groups. Although Black Americans have typically been the Klan’s primary target, adherents also attack Jewish people, persons who have immigrated to the United States, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
TOP TAKEAWAYS
Most iterations of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) continued to decline in 2023, coupled with efforts by certain factions to rebrand and reinvent themselves. Out of the 11 active groups in the previous year, only eight have sustained their operations. Notably, some previously dormant Klan groups reactivated their presence this year, while two new groups formed.
Despite the flux within individual Klan chapters, the overall count of active Klan groups in 2023 remains consistent with a continued downturn, totaling 10 active groups.
KEY MOMENTS
Newly formed or revitalized Klan chapters are endeavoring to imitate more prominent white nationalist groups, shifting toward an online community model with organized meetups, departing from the traditional Klaverns and Kingdoms. Moreover, several Klansmen and chapters are transitioning away from remote platforms like Stormfront and MeWe, opting instead to engage in public recruitment and commentary on such mainstream platforms as Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter. This adaptation underscores the Klan’s attempt to establish a stronger presence in the online sphere compared to its past practices. The distribution of flyers by the Klan in 2023 remained low, tallying 18 instances. However, the Trinity White Knights, which had been dormant since 2015, accounted for most of these distributions. The decline in activity within the White Christian Brotherhood chapter following the passing of its leader, Bill Sandlin, likely contributed to this. Additionally, in July, Daniel Walls of the Old Glory Knights was arrested for placing KKK flyers on Black churches in South Carolina.
WHAT’S AHEAD
KKK activity will remain stagnant or continue to decline in 2024. While Stormfront remains the primary platform for the Klan, the trend of utilizing Facebook and X will likely persist. As in past decades, contemporary white supremacist movements will continue to overshadow the Klan in recruitment, propaganda and events.
BACKGROUND
In 1865, at the conclusion of the Civil War, six Confederate veterans gathered in Pulaski, Tennessee, to create the Ku Klux Klan, a vigilante group mobilizing a campaign of violence and terror against the African American people that benefited from the progress of Reconstruction. As the group gained members from all strata of Southern white society, it used violent intimidation to prevent Black Americans – and any white people who supported Reconstruction – from voting and holding political office.
To maintain white hegemonic control of government, the Klan, joined by other white Southerners, engaged in a violent campaign of deadly voter intimidation during the 1868 presidential election. From Arkansas to Georgia, thousands of Black people were killed. Similar campaigns of lynchings, tar-and-featherings, rapes and other violent attacks on those challenging white supremacy became a hallmark of the Klan.
The first leader or “grand wizard” of the Ku Klux Klan was Nathan Bedford Forrest, a well-known Confederate general. Within the structure of the Klan, he directed a hierarchy of members with outlandish titles, such as “imperial wizard” and “exalted cyclops.” Hooded costumes, violent “night rides” and the notion that the group made up an “invisible empire” conferred a mystique that only added to the Klan’s infamy.
After a short but violent period, the “first era” Klan disbanded when it became evident that Jim Crow laws would secure white supremacy across the country. However, the legacy of the original Klan, and the figureheads of the Confederacy before it, have been enshrined across the country in the “Cult of the Lost Cause.” Only in recent years – after gaining significant attention through large counterprotests and after deadly attacks from far-right extremists – have states and localities started removing these statues and renaming public spaces. On July 9, 2020, Tennessee’s State Capitol Commission voted to remove the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the state Capitol building. It was subsequently removed on July 23, 2021, and placed in the Tennessee State Museum.
In 1915, the Ku Klux Klan was revived by white Protestants near Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to the group’s anti-Black ideological core, this second iteration of the Klan also opposed Catholic and Jewish immigrants. A growing fear of communism and immigration broadened the Klan’s base throughout the South and into the Midwest, with a particular stronghold in Indiana. By 1925, when its followers staged a march in Washington, D.C., the Klan had as many as 4 million members and, in some states, considerable political power. A series of sex scandals, internal battles over power and newspaper exposés quickly reduced the group’s influence.
The Klan arose a third time during the 1960s to oppose the Civil Rights Movement and attempt to preserve segregation as the Chief Justice Earl Warren-led U.S. Supreme Court substantiated civil rights in multiple rulings. Bombings, murders and other attacks by the Klan took a great many lives. Murders committed by Klansmen during the civil rights era include four young African American girls killed in 1963 while preparing for Sunday services at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and the 1964 murder in Mississippi of civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner.
Throughout the second and third eras of the Klan, many Black Americans left Southern states in the Great Migration. While those who moved North were seeking economic prosperity and social opportunities, they were also hoping to escape the racial terror centered around the Klan’s ideological stronghold in the South. With over 6 million Black Americans taking part in this migration, the demographics of the country shifted dramatically.
With the conclusion of the Vietnam War in 1975 and the subsequent return of American soldiers, several key figures arose within the Klan. Louis Beam, upon his return from Vietnam, joined the Alabama-based United Klans of America. His teachings on “leaderless resistance” and early adaptation to technological advances helped bridge neo-Nazi and Klan groups into the organized white power movement. Similarly, David Duke – who founded the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in 1975 – maintained a distinctly antisemitic hatred that closed ideological gaps with neo-Nazis.
Through a series of court cases aimed at bankrupting the Klan and closing the group’s paramilitary training camps, the organization has been weakened. Internal fighting and government infiltrations have led to an endless series of splits, resulting in smaller, less organized Klan chapters. Given the Klan’s insistence on remaining an “invisible empire,” it is nearly impossible to estimate how many active members there are today. However, it is fair to assume that the infighting, rigid traditions and the uncouth image of the Klan are not attracting significant new membership.
2023 KKK HATE GROUPS
View all groups by state and by ideology.
* - Asterisk denotes headquarters.
Christian Revival Center
Harrison, Arkansas
Church of the Keystone Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ragland, Alabama
East Coast Knights of the True Invisible Empire
Pennsylvania
Ku Klos Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Nashville, Illinois
Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Pelham, North Carolina
Virginia
Old Glory Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Santa Fe, Tennessee
Silent Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Auburn, Indiana
Trinity White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Dry Ridge, Kentucky
United Klan Nation
Tennessee
KLAN GLOSSARY
AKIA: A password meaning “A Klansman I Am,” often seen on decals and bumper stickers.
Alien: A person who does not belong to the Klan.
AYAK?: A password meaning “Are You a Klansman?”
CA BARK: A password meaning “Constantly Applied by All Real Klansmen.”
CLASP: A password meaning “Clannish Loyalty a Sacred Principle.”
Genii: The collective name for the national officers. Also known as the Kloncilium, or the advisory board to the Imperial Wizard.
Hydras: The Real officers, with the exception of the Grand Dragon.
Imperial Giant: Former Imperial Wizard.
Imperial Wizard: The overall, or national, head of a Klan, which it sometimes compares to the president of the United States.
Inner Circle: Small group of four or five members who plan and carry out “action.” Its members and activities are not disclosed to the general membership.
Invisible Empire: A Ku Klux Klan’s overall geographical jurisdiction, which it compares to the United States, although chapters do not exist in every state.
Kalendar: Klan calendar, which dates events from both the origin and its 1915 rebirth Anno Klan, and means “in the year of the Klan,” and is usually written “AK.”
Kardinal Kullors: White, crimson, gold and black. Secondary Kullors are gray, green and blue. The Imperial Wizard’s Kullor is Skipper Blue.
K.B.I.: Klan Bureau of Investigation.
KIGY!: A password meaning “Klansman, I greet you!”
Klankfraft: The practices and beliefs of the Klan.
Klanton: The jurisdiction of a Klavern.
Klavern: A local unit or club; also called “den.”
Kleagle: An organizer whose main function is to recruit new members. In some Klans, he gets a percentage of the initiation fees.
Klectokon: Initiation fee.
Klepeer: Delegate elected to Imperial Klonvokation.
Klonkave: Secret Klavern meeting.
Klonverse: Province convention.
Kloran: Official book of Klan rituals.
Klorero: Realm convention.
SAN BOG: A password meaning “Strangers Are Near, Be on Guard.”
Terrors: The Exalted Cyclops’ officers.
