Designed as a guide to the general reader and for review work in schools A topical outline of general history.

How Is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents? As institutions go, the Ku Klux Klan has had a markedly up-and-down history. It was founded in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War by six former Confederate soldiers in Pulaski, Tennessee. The six young men, four of whom were budding lawyers, saw themselves as merely a circle of like-minded friendsБЂ”thus the name they chose, БЂњkuklux,БЂ«a slight mangling of kuklos, the Greek word for БЂњcircle.БЂ«They added БЂњklanБЂ«because they were all of Scotch-Irish descent. In the beginning, their activities were said to be harmless midnight pranksБЂ”riding horses through the countryside while draped in white sheets and pillowcase hoods. But soon the Klan evolved into a multi-state terrorist organization designed to frighten and kill emancipated slaves. Among its regional leaders were five former Confederate generals; its staunchest supporters were the plantation owners for whom Reconstruction posed an economic and political nightmare. In 1872, President Ulysses S ...»