Ku Klux Klan: The Madness of Racism and Violence, Atkins Lawrence

In Pulaski, Tennessee, a group of Confederate veterans convenes to form a secret society that christens the "Ku Klux Klan." The KKK rapidly grew from a secret social fraternity to a paramilitary force bent on reversing the federal government's progressive Reconstruction Era-activities in the South, especially policies that elevated the rights of the local African American population.

The name of the Ku Klux Klan was derived from the Greek word kyklos, meaning "circle," and the Scottish-Gaelic word "clan," which was probably chosen for the sake of alliteration. Under a platform of philosophized white racial superiority, the group employed violence as a means of pushing back Reconstruction and its enfranchisement of African Americans. Former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest was the KKK's first grand wizard; in 1869, he unsuccessfully tried to disband it after he grew critical of the Klan's excessive violence.

The 20th century witnessed two revivals of the KKK: one in response to immigration in the 1910s and '20s, and another in response to the African American civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s. Various chapters of the KKK still exist in the 21st century. White supremacist violence, in general, is again on the rise in America.