Ku Klux Klan Essays (Examples)

Ku Klux Klan: A History

Naturally, today we are convinced -- and rightfully so -- that the Ku Klux Klan's politics and desires and goals are inherently evil. They are not in sync with the times, at the very least, and at the very most, they are a representation of all that is negative in racial relations. However, to understand the Klan's motivations, one must truly look at the group's origins and history.

While today's modern Klan groups are fighting for a goal that is a far cry from what the original Klan fought for, a better understanding of exactly what was going on during Reconstruction may reveal that just about any race of man today, if put in their shoes, would join such a group. They had a purpose, and they came out to fight for it. Once their job was done, they closed shop. The Klan today have…

Ku Klux Klan was founded by Nathan Bedford Forrest and five other educated, middle-class Confederate veterans on December 24, 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee (Ku pp). The name was constructed by combining the Greek word for circle with "clan" (Ku pp). The term Ku Klux Klan is used to refer to a number of past and present fraternal organizations within the United States that have advocated white supremacy (Ku pp).

The Klan's first incarnation was in 1866, and its main purpose was to resist Congressional Reconstruction by intimidating "carpetbaggers" and "scalawags" (Ku pp).

From the beginning the Klan adopted violent methods, and was involved in a wave of 1,300 lynchings of Republican voters in 1968 (Ku pp). By the early 1870's, the Klan had been destroyed by President Ulysses S. Grant under the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act (Ku pp). However, in 1915, a second Ku Klux Klan was founded by…

This single act, as shown by the documentation of the criminal justice system undeniably meets every single criteria for definition as an act of domestic terrorism as defined by section 2331 of Chapter 113b in the United States Code, which was quoted earlier. Of course this certainly isn't an isolated event. The court documents cited above themselves describe numerous acts of violence committed by Klan members throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The violent activities extended beyond these decades as well.

In 1993 members of the Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan pelted civil rights activists with rocks and bottles during a brotherhood march in Forsyth County, Georgia. Throughout the 90s, Klan members had planned bombings and church burning specifically targeting those with black congregations. In April 1997, three Klan members were arrested in a plot to blow up a natural gas refinery near Fort Worth, Texas. Three more…

]

The Klan was therefore able to identify different methods of infiltrating American politics and ideologies, crafting their program to suit different regions of the country. In areas with large numbers of Jews, the Klan could be rabidly anti-Semitic and gain membership via the propagation of Nazi values. In areas where moral decay in Christian communities was viewed as a primary problem, the Klan leaders presented their ideology as an agent of social morality.[footnoteef:11] When the Klan considered the advantages of taking its political platform and special interests to the mainstream, it joined the Democratic National Convention of 1924, and also the epublican National Convention that same year.[footnoteef:12] the Klan had become a full-scale mainstream political, social, and economic institution in the United States because it was as diverse as it was ideologically, even if not culturally or socio-economically. [11: DA Horowitz, "Social Morality and Personal evitalization: Oregon's Ku Klux…

That Duke's followers believed it was all that mattered. As always it was easy to believe that the failures of today were the result of interlopers and insidious conspiracies by inferior types. Duke was elected to the Louisiana state legislature in 1989. Though the campaign focused to a considerable extent on his Klan connections it ignored his wider philosophical associations and social and political connections. Duke was heavily involved with the American Nazi party. National Socialism represented possibly the ultimate expression of the Klan's principles of racial hatred, these poisonous ideas being brought to their natural apex in the goal of literally exterminating the supposedly inferior races. Following the methodology of Adolph Hitler, Duke began as a revolutionary but then turned to an appeal to "jobs and bread," thus linking his virulently racist campaign to the most fundamental human needs (Moore, 1992, pp. 94-95). Duke claimed to represent the true,…

The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) is also a domestic terrorist organization for the same reason, although it also maintains affiliations outside the U.S. (ELF, 2009). Like the AOG, the ELF preaches a message that would be perfectly legal if it were pursued strictly by nonviolent, legal means. Specifically, the ELF is dedicated to the economic sabotage of entities that, according to their definitions, are engaged in destroying the planet's environment and its biological organisms. The group was originally founded in England in 1992 and substantially modeled after the structure and organization of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) dedicated to the rescue of animals from laboratories and other institutions they believe are exploiting animals for profit.

More importantly, the ELF mirrors the decentralized, leaderless organizational structure of the ALF as a means of avoiding apprehension and infiltration by law enforcement. Specifically, both organizations consist of loose affiliations of otherwise unconnected independent…

Kenneth T. Jackson's book, The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915-1930, is an effective and valuable look at the second Klan movement. In the book, Jackson looks at the Klan's success in capturing political power in urban centers in the South and the North, and describes the Klan's actions in the political sphere. Jackson's book ultimately serves its purpose of describing the unique characteristics of the second Klan movement, and dispels many of the stereotypes of the Klan as a rural, Southern movement.

Essentially, the KKK was relatively successful in capturing political power in urban centers in the South and the North. Jackson notes that the Klan was only active in the southern cities of Mobile, Birmingham, Atlanta, and Montgomery prior to 1920, and that the Klan's movement into the north only became established in the north at a later date.

Despite the early success of the clan in…

S. Those who had lived for generations in the U.S. were unsettled and wary as these changes occurred. Immigration soon became a social and political issue among the public, groups began to form based on beliefs held which were similar from group to group, and the prevalence of organizations experienced growth with the KKK being no exception to the rule. The KKK used phrases such as "America for Americans" (Ludwig, nd) Ludwig additionally states: "Anti-Catholic prejudice was alive and even rejuvenated in some quarters in the twentieth century. Protestant "fundamentalists" and other new Christian denominations revived anti-Catholicism as part of an insistence on "original," pre-Rome Christianity. Americans, goaded on by hate groups, feared that Catholics would pay allegiance to their "foreign King" (the Pope) rather than their new country (Pencak, 110). Although there was a strong argument for this, as much of the Italian immigrant population consisted of devout Catholics,…

Klan politics are eerily being played out in modern conservative movements such as the Tea Party. While the Tea Party does not officially endorse the KKK, the two groups share many common objectives including the mistrust of new immigrants. Today's Klansmen are basically "unhappy about the social politics of America's post-industrial, pluralistic society" and they "feel left out."

The official stance of the KKK resembles much of conservative America in that the group claims to espouse "Christian morality" and "eschews violence."

The Klan's own Web site claims that the group is "ringing a Message of Hope and Deliverance to White Christian America! A Message of Love NOT Hate!"

ecause of this misleading message, the KKK has the potential to woo new recruits and influence public discourse: neither of which can be tolerated.

ibliography

Anti-Defamation League. "About the Ku Klux Klan." Retrieved online: http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/default.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=kkk

ullard, Sara. The Ku Klux Klan. Southern…

Pretention was key because the women knew that the men's focus stayed on preventing race mixing between blacks and whites. To distract the men from the issues that the WKKK were fighting for, they would cleverly get the men to focus on black men trying to flirt or what have you with them. This was just a ploy for them so that they could fully pursue their interests with little or no interference from the men.

Auxiliary or Organization

Clearly, the intent of the KKK was for the women to establish an auxiliary in order to support them. The women had other ideas. The men were used to further the women's cause unknowingly. "Klanswomen embraced the mixture of individualism and deference to authority that characterized the male Klan." (p. 36). The women did not and would not be a support group for the men. They did feel that other races…

Others, however, saw things differently.

Perhaps the clearest way to come to an understanding of the status of the WKK as either an independent or an auxiliary organization is to examine the central philosophies of the two groups. While the leadership of the WKKK by and large supported the racial and religious policies of the larger Ku Klux Klan -- i.e. A mistrust or outright hatred of blacks, Catholics, and Jews -- there were fears that even "Protestant men…were likely to be 'unyielding' in opposition to gender equality since they benefited directly from the current situation" (Blee 1991, pp. 76). Given this level of mistrust and irreconcilable difference, it seems unlikely that the most vocal, staunch, and long-standing members of the WKKK considered themselves a part of the same organization as the man they viewed as their oppressors. Though working in tandem with the Ku Klux Klan and using many…

There are also other aspects that could be included in the study of susceptibility factors, such as unemployment and criminality.

In conclusion, the main technique that the Klan uses to entice and retain members is the ideological component of their dogma and rhetoric. This is supported by factors such as the search for meaning among the youth and fear. The Klan uses fear of poverty, dispossession and other social factors to maintain a hold on their members. These aspects are strengthened and grounded in various religious perceptions and theories, which tend to justify and legitimize the actions of the Klan to existing members, as well as making the society more attractive to newcomers.

ibliography

Summary of the Panel Discussion on Cults. Retrieved November 12, 2008, at http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:zw-HeZTvIMJ:www.bcskeptics.info/re/11.02.pdf+What+persuasion+techniques+does+the+Ku+Klux+Klan+use+to+recruit+and+retain+members&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=za

Apocalypse: Definition of Key Terms. Retrieved November 13, 2008, at http://csuold.csuohio.edu/english/earl/nr0apoc1.html

evilaqua J. The FI, COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE and the Decline of Ku Klux…

The KKK recognizes that power is a necessary ingredient in attracting people to its cause. They empower the hierarchal administrators with certain authorities over the membership, their states, and creates the personal sense of power that individuals who might not be otherwise competent or confident in their own abilities to nonetheless have an authority over others.

That the regions wherein the KKK operates, those states listed in its charter, are divided amongst the hierarchy administratively, creating a sense of ownership over the states. Certainly it must be the hope of the hierarchal administrators that they will one day have an opportunity to assert their authority beyond the limits of the organization. In fact, the very essence of this doctrine, the charter by which the organization operates and its secret nature, suggest that there is the anticipation that the infrastructure of the United States will breakdown, and that the "empire" will…

hile " resurgence of support for the Klan was manifest in the surprising popularity in the early 1990s of David Duke in Louisiana, actual membership in Klan organizations is estimated to be in the low thousands (Unknown)." The "Ku Klux Klan still exists and holds power today. They are responsible for many attacks and killings of blacks, immigrants, Jews and Catholics (www.learntoquestion.com/vclass/seevak/groups/2001/sites/dees/back)."

Conclusion

hen the Ku Klux Klan was originally organized, and in the 1920s, it had a major influence on politics in the United States. However, over the years the political climate in the United States has changed and membership in the Klan has declined, diminishing the KKK's political power today.

orks Cited

Background: Ku Klux Klan. (accessed 03 May, 2005). www.learntoquestion.com/vclass/seevak/groups/2001/sites/dees/back...).

Klein, Anne. "Unmasking the Oregon Klansman: The Ku Klux Klan in Astoria 1921-1925." (accessed 03 May, 2005). ).

Lynching. (accessed 03 May, 2005). www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAlynching.htm).

Unknown. "Ku Klux…

They were released only to be followed on the highway and shot dead.

Attorney General Robert Kennedy who was informed of the disappearance of the three men, arranged for Joseph Sullivan of the FBI to go to ississippi and investigate the situation together with FBI eridian-based agent John Proctor. Their findings would be splendidly presented in Court by John Doar, who prosecuted the federal case. Local officials were not sympathetic with the case and showed little interest in finding the ones responsible for the murders. Nevertheless, federal interest in the case was overwhelming, thus the investigation was impressive and finally led to the discovery of the killers.

The population of the country was reluctant to offering any kind of information regarding the killings; in fact, it was children who gave the investigators the most clues. The two agents used tactics such as the observation of the sheriff's behavior as he…

O Brother Where Art Thou

Heroes have always been celebrated in mythology, literature and films as men of great courage and daredevilry. By very definition, therefore, a hero has to necessarily be sent off on a quest to achieve some goal and encounter all kinds of danger, adventure and obstacles on his way. Being endowed with extraordinary qualities, a hero is naturally the central personage in any story, irrespective of the medium; a classic case in point being Ulysses in The Odyssey. Joel Coen's O Brother, Where Art Thou is, on the surface, a film that faithfully adheres to the conventional framework of a hero on a quest. The film, however, is a hilarious tongue-in-cheek version of the classic adventure format.

Based loosely on Homer's Odyssey, including a hero with the same name, O Brother Where Art Thou is a tall tale of three convicts escaping from a chain gang…

Django Unchained

As a screenwriter and filmmaker, Quentin Tarantino has long been considered the ultimate auteur. His style and content are uniquely his own and are marked by edgy, graphic content along with fast, memorable dialogue. There is a rapt attention paid to pop culture and popular slang that all of Tarantino's films bear, and of late his films have paid attention to dark historical events. Inglourious Basterds (2011) focused on World War II and the multiple forms of carnage that this event encompassed. Django Unchained marks yet another foray of Tarantino into one of America's blackest historical marks: slavery. Like Basterds, Tarantino puts his unique stamp on this dreary historical subject by couching it from a unique and meaningful perspective: he portrays the events of slavery with the imprint of a slave who becomes a type of bounty hunter, and kills white men. This is strongly evocative of the…

Walter Lippmann, Drift and Mastery

Walter Lippmann wrote Drift and Mastery in 1914, at a time when party politics in the United States were in a distinct state of flux. The 1912 election of Woodrow Wilson was the first time since the Civil War that a Democrat was elected President -- if we recall that Grover Cleveland (the only other Democrat elected in this half-century) was only elected by the support of the renegade "Mugwump" Republicans, who were dissatisfied with corruption within their own party. The split between traditionalism and reform among the Republicans, however, that permitted Cleveland's election had widened into an actual party split -- Theodore Roosevelt ran as a "ull Moose" Progressive against Taft, while Eugene V. Debs ran to Wilson's left as a Socialist. In some sense, Lippmann's Drift and Mastery is a response to the strange condition of partisan politics at this moment in American…

Primary Source Analysis

One of the key ideas of this document was to reveal to Americans the Klu Klux Klan's perception on white supremacy and also why they considered themselves to be the greatest race in the world. In particular, Evans employs patriotism in some manner to proclaim to Americans that one important element of being American, is to understand that they are superior to other people. In addition, Evans attempts to justify the actions and ideas of the group by linking them to "the mass of the old-stock Americans" who cannot be linked to the "intellectually mongrelized Liberals." In addition, Evans delineates the aspect of Americanism, which he ties to his notion of anti-aliens. He asserts that the immigrants are the ones that should be considered a threat against Americanism. He considered aliens to be a threat because he thought that they blatantly lacked the qualities that made Americans…

Terrorism Organizations

What is Terrorism?

Legacy in the 21st century

Based Terrorist Organizations

Aryan Nation

Ku Klux Klan

Counterterrorism and Prevention

Definitions and Structures

Homeland Security

Patriot Act

The very nature of terrorism, of course, is to engender fear and panic into the population base. Thus, targets are so numerous that complete protection of all is impossible. Targets could include any of the governmental buildings in Washington, D.C., courthouses or public buildings in major cities, malls, churches, and transportation centers in any town. Unless the materials are manufactured in the United States, though, the most likely targets are those that exist in coastal cities with larger port access (Smith, 2001).

Terrorists tend to target places that are media hyped, affect the lives of citizens, and are usually transportation, entertainment, or financially based in larger urban areas. Indeed, for greater efficacy, targets usually involve places where there are large non-combatant crowds,…

e must canonize our own saints, create our own martyrs, and elevate to positions of fame and honor black women and men who have made their distinct contributions to our history." (Garvey1, 1)

Taken in itself and absent the implications to African repatriation that we will address hereafter, this is a statement which seems to project itself upon both Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, mutually driven as they would be by a belief that African men had been deprived of a humanity which it was their duty to see restored. But it is here that we can also begin to observe the elements of Garvey's rather poetic and frequently biblical rhetoric as producing multifarious responses in its future champions. Certainly, the greatest and most daunting common ground between King and Malcolm X in this instance is in their mutual 'creation' of 'martyrs.' They would both sacrifice themselves to the…

By enacting the Black Codes, starting in 1865, following the 13th Amendment, however, and by giving birth, in 1866, to the Ku Klux Klan and its reign of terror over the freedmen, the southern states successfully circumvented the actual enjoyment by blacks of most of the freedoms granted them by the 13th Amendment.

Primary ources

The Constitution of the United tates of America [Article II]. A History of the American People.

Ed. Harry J. Carman et al. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Knopf, 1960. 776.

Hill, Elias. "Testimony before Congressional Committee Investigating the Ku Klux Klan, 1871." Reading the American Past: elected Historical Documents. Ed. Michael

Johnson. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Bedford, 2002. 9-13.

Jefferson, Thomas. The Declaration of Independence. A History of the American People.

Ed. Harry J. Carman et al. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Knopf, 1960. 759.

Mississippi Black Code, November 1865." Reading…

Second Reconstructions

One of the most dramatic consequences of the Civil ar and Reconstruction was that the South was effectively driven from national power for roughly six decades. Southerners no longer claimed the presidency, wielded much power on the Supreme Court, or made their influence strongly felt in Congress But beginning in the 1930s, the South was able to flex more and more political muscle, and by the 1970s some began to think that American politics and political culture were becoming 'southernized'.u How did this happen and what difference did it make to the development of the South and the United States?

Under segregation most blacks in the U.S. still lived in the South and were employed as sharecroppers, laborers and domestic servants, but the system of segregation and discrimination was also found everywhere in other sections of the country. Certainly virtually nothing was done for civil rights during the…

In addition, both governments and churches began to grow suspicious of the group, probably because of the "organization's secrecy and liberal religious beliefs" (Watson, 2009). As a result, Portugal and France banned Freemasonry; in fact, it was a capital offense to be a Freemason in Portugal (Watson, 2009). Moreover, "Pope Clement XII forbade Catholics from becoming Freemasons on penalty of excommunication" (Watson, 2009). Feeling pressure in Europe, many Freemasons decided to flee the Old World and travel to the European colonies scattered throughout the world, most notably, America.

Influence on America

Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of the Freemasons and American history understands that, whatever resistance the Freemasons met with in Europe was not to be found in America. The Freemasons set up lodges in Boston and Philadelphia, and some of the founding fathers, including Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. More importantly, the Freemasons are reported to have played…

Cointelpro

In the United States during the 1960s, the nation was in a period of social turmoil. The post-orld ar II suburban culture was giving way to rebellion and revolution and a total upset of the status quo. Particularly in the school and universities, educated members of the youth population began to question the rules and morays established by their predecessors and became determined to change things. This did not sit well with the older Americans, those who had fought in the world wars or Korea and who had taken over the guardianship of the country, this included holding positions of political power in the United States government. Those in power did not trust the youth movement and were highly suspicious of their activities. To understand them and determine if the youth were a threat to the government, a program was designed to covertly spy on the activities of members…

My erections are at a healthier state from using VolumePills™, as from before to now they are a lot stronger and healthier."

HY THIS IS a FALLACY: This is begging the question because the writer (assuming a real person actually wrote that testimonial) is expecting the reader to accept on faith that this is true, without any way to check its validity. It is also an appeal to ignorance because very few men in the general population have any scientific or medical knowledge about penis enlargement, sperm enhancement, etc.

FALLACY #4 (a): The Ku Klux Klan KKK (on its eb site) asserts that the U.S. should "Abolish all anti-gun laws and encourage every adult to own a weapon." Further, the KKK asserts that, "The cure for crime in America is not take guns off the streets but to put more guns on the streets."

HY THIS IS a FALLACY: This…

O rother, Where Art Thou?

Homer in Hollywood: The Coen rothers' O rother, Where Art Thou?

Could a Hollywood filmmaker adapt Homer's Odyssey for the screen in the same way that James Joyce did for the Modernist novel? The idea of a high-art film adaptation of the Odyssey is actually at the center of the plot of Jean-Luc Godard's 1963 film Contempt, and the Alberto Moravia novel on which Godard's film is based. In Contempt, Prokosch, a rich American dilettante film producer played by Jack Palance, hires Fritz Lang to film a version of Homer's Odyssey, then hires a screenwriter to write it and promptly ruins his marriage to rigitte ardot. Fritz Lang gamely plays himself -- joining the ranks of fellow "arty" German-born directors who had earlier deigned to act before the camera (like Erich von Stroheim in Wilder's Sunset oulevard, playing a former director not unlike himself, or…

Tucker, deputy sheriff of said county, from giving and securing to the said Robert R. Smith and others, naming them, the due and equal protection of the laws of said state, in this, to-wit, that at and before the entering into said conspiracy, the said Robert R. Smith and others, naming them, were held in the custody of said deputy sheriff by virtue of certain warrants duly issued against them, to answer certain criminal charges, and it thereby became and was the duty of said deputy sheriff to safely keep in his custody the said Robert R. Smith and others while so under arrest, and then and there give and secure to them the equal protection of the laws of the State of Tennessee, and that the defendants did then and there conspire together for the purpose of preventing and hindering the said deputy sheriff from then and there safely…

Terrorism

Tragedies from deadly terrorist attacks have made the international communities to pervasively fear and loath terrorism. Terrorism is undertaken by individual with motivations that are complex for the understanding of security agencies and individuals. Definition according United States statutes states terrorism to be politically motivated, premeditated, violence against noncombatant individuals, private property by clandestine agents or subnational groups, with an intention to obtain audience (Launtenberg, 2011). This definition is adopted for purposes of this paper.

Attempts to shed some light on terrorism highlight the motives of the perpetrators while they give some appropriate measures to resolve the problem. The organizations linked to supporting terrorism by State Department stood at 22 in the year 2001. In three years' time, the list of identified terrorist groups had grown to 36 with more groups being listed as unofficial terrorist organizations. One might mistake terrorism industry for a thriving economic entity or the…

The USA Patriot Act: This was a law that was passed after September 11th. It is giving the police and intelligence officials the power to go after terrorists organizations easier. As it lifted various Constitutional protections when investigating these offenses.

Counter Terrorism: These are the activities that: federal, state and local officials are taking to prevent future terrorist attacks.

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD): These are weapons designed to inflict large amounts of casualties. These include: chemical, radiological, biological and nuclear.

These different terms are important, because they will help to avoid confusion and will focus the reader on understanding the overall scope of the problem.

Limitations of the Study

The limitations of the study are that the information we are presenting, could be pointing out a number of different problems. Yet, beneath the surface they are failing to identify possible changes that could have already been implemented by federal…

They also encounter a large religious group coming through the forest to be baptized at a river, sirens who supposedly "lure" Pete into lustful relations and turn him into a toad, and many other characters. They consistently have to stay one step ahead of the sheriff and his bloodhounds, and still must find a way to be pardoned at the end, or they will go back to prison. They steal cars; meet a guitar player who believes he can play the guitar because he sold his soul to the devil, and some hospitable people who help them along their journey. Most of the film involves their travels, trials, and tribulations, and it often seems as if they will never attain their goal, which is another element of an epic journey.

The search does indeed illustrate Ulysses' (and many others) social and religious values. Ulysses is not particularly religious, but his…

While some readers of the book accuse the authors of seeing racism around every corner, this particular book actually pinpoints so many similarities between the coming American militia and other White Supremist groups that there can be no question of its validity.

If one wishes to test the thesis strength of this book one only has to research many of the militia beliefs and recent movements and hold them against former group movements like the KKK and others to see that they are scarily similar.

One of the strongest examples of coming militia movements in America used in the book is the Oklahoma bombings (Dees, 1999). Within the Okalahoma bombings ran a constant undercurrent of fear and anger at anything that was not white in skin color and attitude.

The fact that they were willing to bomb and kill a building that had a daycare center in it because that…

Tulsa Race Riot: What Happened and Why

In 1921, Tulsa, Oklahoma, like many other American cities, was a hotbed of racial tension and the Ku Klux Klan was large, accepted and active in "keeping blacks in their place." Although Jews and Catholics were also targeted, African-Americans were far and away their primary targets. Blaming these minorities for the mainstream society's problems was a simple answer to a complex problem. The brutalities that were visited upon the African-America community in Tulsa were so severe and widespread that the event should be called the "Tulsa Race assacre."

The prosperity that was being enjoyed by many blacks in Tulsa at the time in an area known as "Black Wall Street" and the nice homes that the whites could see from downtown Tulsa served to infuriate many of them to the point where any excuse would be sufficient to exact their revenge for being…

The Birth of a Nation is a bit more explicit in its message but it rings to the same tune -- southern whites are victims of the civil war, not perpetrators.

Neither is an accurate portrayal of historical events but rather a symbolic representation of feelings and emotions held by whites in the pre-world war two United States. Historical evidence proves that neither Griffith nor O'Selznick were accurate in their depiction of the civil war but they do capture the fear and xenophobia riddled throughout each decade. While Griffith took inspiration from the Clansmen, O'Selznick, a Jewish New Yorker, along with his mostly Jewish writing team, likely were not trying to rewrite history but instead speaking to their audience, understanding what they were looking for.

The Birth of a Nation and Gone with the Wind speak to an audience who's way of life had been taken away by force. Though…

He writes, "In Louisiana, South Carolina, and Virginia - the home of large free black populations - men who had never known slavery dominated among econstruction officeholders. For the South as a whole, however, the black political leadership arose out of local slave communities" (Foner 136). He shows the struggles, victories, and defeats the blacks faced, and helps the reader see why econstruction was so important to our history. He also believes that there is still a type of econstruction going on today, in other ways, which is another reason he feels it is so important.

Foner's book belongs on the shelves of any reader interested in Civil War history, because he explains his ideas effectively and writes so anyone can understand his ideas and conclusions. It effectively uses illustrations to help make some of the key points, (such as how blacks were viewed historically during econstruction and beyond), and…

1865-1929, one is struck at how prevalent violence was in the daily lives of Americans. Discuss the use of violence in the three regions: the segregated South, the frontier West, and the industrial North. What was the purpose and how effective was the use of violence in this period?

In the time frame from 1865 -- 1929, violence within American society became very extreme. Part of the reason for this, was because there was a shift in how the federal government was enforcing the rule of law. As, many of these instances are: interrelated to one another, while at the same time they were unique in their own ways. In the segregated South, the underlying amounts of violence were targeted directly at the blacks who were once former slaves. This was in response to the backlash that occurred in the aftermath of the Civil War. As, most people in the…

Odyssey and O' Brother

In the course of human history, one of the interesting things about past literature is the way the heroic appears again and again. In fact, this appearance becomes an archetype in that we see very similar themes in literature, religion, mythology, and culture. This is perhaps because as humans we have the need to explain and explore the unknown, but also because we tend to psychologically need a guide through the complexities of life. The idea of the hero as a role model for behavior, in fact, is so tied to human culture that one need only look at popular culture -- television and motion pictures for certain, to epitomize the need for particular story themes to remain popular. Whatever the genre -- science fiction, fantasy, western, war, even politics -- the classic nature of human values become clear when one continues to see the character…

However, the doctrine of "states' rights," also stemming from the Constitution, encouraged the southern states to believe that they could deal with their Negro residents as they chose, as only slavery had been specifically banned. They began imposing more and more restrictive rules on their lack residents. The Ku Klux Klan formed after the federally managed "Reconstruction" ended. The KKK terrorized lacks who violated the views of the local Whites regarding how lacks should behave and conduct themselves.

At the end of the 19th century, in the ruling Plessy vs. Ferguson (p. 133), the Supreme Court ruled that a court ruling could not force equality if one race were inferior to the other, and refused to reverse segregation rules. This ruling justified all sorts of horrific practices, including segregated schools, which were separate but often not equal. Typically these schools did not have libraries, and typically the textbooks were outdated…

Civil ar

After the last shots of Civil ar were heard, and following the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Lincoln, the South had been humiliated and devastated. The repercussions of war included loss of life, land, and livelihood. Patriarchy and racism remained entrenched, but the emancipation of slaves significantly transformed the social landscape of the South. Liberated slaves started from scratch without access to cultural or social capital, and many eventually migrated North. African-American culture was able to emerge, and in many cases, to flourish. Meanwhile, the white power structures in the South resigned themselves to ignorance, causing the South to remain the most backwards, uneducated, and poor region of the United States for over a century. Far from inspiring the South to transform its social, cultural, economic, and political institutions, the entrenched plantation society and Confederate identity took deep root there. Jim Crow symbolizes the extent to…

Oshinsky, "orse Than Slavery"

David Oshinsky's history of "convict labor" in the Reconstruction-era American South bears the title orse Than Slavery. The title itself raises questions about the role played by moralistic discourse in historiography, and what purpose it serves. Oshinsky certainly paints a grim picture of the systematic use of African-American prisoners at Parchman Farm -- the focus of his study -- and throughout the South after the Civil ar. I would like to examine the system that Oshinsky describes, while incidentally paying attention to the rhetoric he employs in doing so. But ultimately I wish to call attention to, and question, the validity of Oshinsky's title. The title is provocative, and therefore can only be termed responsible historiography if indeed his purpose is to provoke further questions. Chief among these must be the question of what it actually means to declare that what he describes in the book…

For example, while the initial confrontation was only between small groups of individuals, the sheriff of the town began to deputize hundreds of white men because of alleged possible retaliation from the black community. This led to a situation where large numbers of racist and rightwing members of the community were given the authority and the legal right to carry arms and continue the violence.

The results of the horrendous violence that ensued were that between one-hundred and three hundred Black people were killed. Damage to the community was devastating. The Entire 35-block Greenwood District was basically destroyed. More than ten-thousand people were left homeless after the incident. Furthermore, the Tulsa Star and the Oklahoma Sun, two Black newspapers were totally destroyed, as well as the library and six churches. Many private properties, including the offices of professionals such as lawyers and doctors, were also destroyed in the day of…

On July 3, 1969, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals entered an order requiring the submission of new plans to be put into effect this fall to accelerate desegregation in 33 Mississippi school districts. On August 28, upon the motion of the Department of Justice and the recommendation of the Secretary of Health, Education & elfare, the Court of Appeals suspended the July 3 order and postponed the date for submission of the new plans until December 1, 1969. I have been asked by Negro plaintiffs in 14 of these school districts to vacate the suspension of the July 3 order. Largely for the reasons set forth below, I feel constrained to deny that relief. (396 U.S. 1218, 1218-1219).

Black pointed out that the Brown decision came 15 years before the Alexander case, but that Mississippi and other states had failed to desegregate. He blamed this on the fact that:…

ace and eunion

Briefly describe each of the three visions

Vision one: The reconciliationist vision -- this vision had its roots in the "process of dealing with the dead from so many battlefields, prisons, and hospitals," the author writes on page 2; and it also developed in ways prior to the process of econstruction; people were weary of war, and many Americans longed for a time of forgiving, in the Christian sense; vision two: The white supremacist vision -- this vision was manifest through terror, violence, and its legacy promotes a memory of the Civil War aftermath as one of segregation on southern terms; those of white supremacist / racist leanings would never consider giving in to a Constitutional mandate to allow all blacks freedom, the vote, and other equal rights; vision three: The emancipationist vision -- this includes much of what African-Americans remember about gaining their freedom, it also…

Labor-Capital Conflict of the 1920s

Labor-capital confrontations had been long brewing since the dawn of the industrial age and the start of urbanization. As the owners of the means of production amassed capital, wealth became concentrated into the hands of the few. Labor movements emerged both in Europe and in the United States, transforming the political, economic, and social landscapes of nations. The environment in which labor-capital confrontations developed must therefore be understood within a broader historical context. Market liberalization and globalization led to increased opportunities for labor exploitation, in stalwart industries such as steel and other heavy manufacturing. At the same time, exploitation of workers led to worker unrest, strikes, and protests.

As Glen Jeansonne notes, the post-World War period of the 1920s was characterized by overreach and excess: "usinessmen in the 1920s could boast of substantial accomplishments, but business grew overconfident, arrogant. In their zeal and greed the…

Unit IV:

The media world had advanced a lot near the half of the twentieth century, and this made it possible for African-Americans to be heard through means such as the television, the radio, and the newspaper. The culture and trends promoted by black people no longer seemed to be resentful for the white public. Even if the majority of black people continued to experience financial problems, they did not feel intimidated. They took advantage of every opportunity to express themselves and their artistic abilities.

hile racism had not yet become history, its presence could no longer be felt as it was several decades earlier. Racist incidents were rarer and the U.S. had finally learnt that racism did not pay, and furthermore, that it had been pointless. Black people succeeded in accomplishing what they had been searching for more than a century. Their illiteracy and the fact that they had…

The Greenwood neighborhood was literally, an ash heap. ut rebuild they did. The tightness of the community returned -- most say it never left -- and their religious faith kept them going. They returned as well to all of the values, traditions, and morals they held before the riot. With the support of each for their neighbor, slowly, it happened.

Today

It became the "New Orleans" of Oklahoma during the 1920's with its jazz and blues music pumping out of saloons all along the Greenwood thoroughfare. y the 1960s, however, much of the population had moved away and the area became distressed. Urban renewal in the 1970s replaced part of the area with a highway loop. Several blocks of the old neighborhood were saved and became the Greenwood Historical District. A park and cultural center honor the Tulsa Race Riot, and the Chamber of Commerce plans a larger museum to…

S. law. Legislation such as many elements of the U.S.A. PATRIOT ACT are problematic because they do not provide adequate controls to ensure that investigative methods and procedures appropriate under some circumstances cannot be used in circumstances where they are inappropriate under U.S. law.

4. What is the FISA Court? Explain how it works. What authorities can it grant law enforcement? How is it different from traditional courts? What concerns exist about expanding the use of FISA?

The Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) was established to regulate the use of surveillance by the executive branch of government in the wake of various unconstitutional investigations conducted by the Nixon administration in connection with monitoring political rivals and government opposition groups. The FISA Act authorized the covert monitoring of information and communication exchanges of entities of foreign governments engaged in espionage and intelligence collection activities in the U.S. pursuant…

Although Friedman claims that the use of religion as a common bond among early Americans is no longer relevant, there are scores of Americans who still believe that the nation is essentially a Christian one. The identity of Tea Party people is inextricably tied into an identity that may seem outmoded to many Americans. Yet to the Tea Party, their identity is more American than any apple pie.

Most Americans throughout most of American history considered it perfectly fine to deny half the (white) population the right to vote on the basis of gender. Being female was considered a handicap, which systematically denied women the right to be Americans even if they identified with the culture of the United States. Asian men who worked on the railroads in nineteenth century America were not even permitted to start families because their Otherness was too much for the ASP majority. Now, Asians…

Three major industries emerged: cotton, tobacco and iron. It's arguable that the cotton and tobacco industries did not stray far from their antebellum roots; however, the majority of the factories were funded by Northern investors. No different was the emerging iron and steel industry of the post-Civil War South - by the early 1900s, the factories were owned almost exclusively by the Northern Andrew Carnegie (Schultz, Tishler).

The emergence of factories did more than impact society as a whole with a race to the cities; race relations were impacted as well. The majority of the new factory jobs were held by whites, with blacks doing only unskilled labor. Mill owners justified the hiring of all whites as making up for the antebellum disparity that had existed when blacks had the majority of agricultural "jobs," if their former slave labor could be called that. At the political level, after the ratification…

Judicial review allows lawmakers to reflect changing morals and ideals when enacting legislation, but prevents them from allowing the hot-button topics of the moment to determine the laws of a nation. In fact, to really understand the success of judicial review, one need only look to the election in the Ukraine, where the Ukrainian Supreme Court may be the only body far-enough removed from party politics to ensure that Ukrainian voters have their say. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Justice Marshall should be very flattered.

orks Cited

The Gathering Storm." John Marshall: Definer of a Nation. 2003. DuPage County Bar

Association. 9 Dec. 2004 http:dcba.org/brief/sepissue/1997/art20997.htm.

Hugo Lafayette Black." Arlington National Cemetery ebsite. 2004. Arlington National

Cemetery ebsite. 9 Dec. 2004 http:www.arlingtoncemetery.net/hlblack.htm.

Judicial review/Marbury v. Madison." National Legal Center for the Public Interest. 2002.

National Legal Center for the Public Interest 9 Dec. 2004 http://www.nlcpi.org/pdf/JudicialReviewMarburyvMadison.pdf#search='judicial%20review%20marbury'.

Linder, Doug. "Judicial…

Board of Education of Topeka. This case represented a watershed for Civil ights and helped to signal an end to segregation because it determined that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" (Warren, 1954). It is essential to note that federal support on this particular issue was only earned after African-Americans decided to use the legislative system to their advantage by taking the segregationist school system of Topeka, Kansas to task. This particular court case was a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of 13 parents whose children were enrolled in the city's school system. This action was highly influential in the African-American struggle for civil rights and to end discrimination because it demonstrated that they had learned the most effective means of fighting this systemic oppression -- by utilizing the system itself, in this instance, the legislative system that ran the country.

By doing so, African-Americans helped to end the…

O Bothe, Whee At Thou? -- The Film

Famed filmmaking bothes Joel and Ethan Coen wote and diected O Bothe, Whee At Thou? The film was eleased shotly befoe Chistmas of the yea 2000. The film is a sot of emix and emake. The pemise of the film was a take on the epic poem "The Odyssey" by Home and set the naative in the deep Ameican south duing the 1930s. The pimay chaactes ae played by Geoge Clooney, John Tutuo, and Tim Blake Nelson. The film is damatic, comedic, musical, political, and adventuous. The film was additionally nominated fo two Academy Awads. The film futhe stas seveal othe well-known and espected actos of theate, television and film such as John Goodman, Holly Hunte, and Michael Baladucco.

Eveett, Pete, and Delma ae fiends. Eveett is a maied man with seveal daughte and a spitfie wife. Upon his aest and impisonment,…

illiam McKee Evans' book, To Die Game, is a worthwhile piece of scholarly literature. The book, fully entitled To Die Game: The Story of The Lowry Band, Indian Guerrillas of Reconstruction, tells the story of the Lowry family, the ancestors of today's Lumbee Indians. To Die Game argues that the Lowry gang committed its acts of violence as justifiable acts of revenge against the brutal actions of the Ku Klux Klan and the Confederate Army. Ultimately, the author's substantial academic credentials, coupled with his extensive scholarly research, makes To Die Game an excellent look into the lives of the Lowry Band.

illiam McKee Evans' academic background is impressive, and makes him clearly adequate to undertake a project like To Die Game. Evans is an emeritus professor of history at California State Polytechnic University Pomona. He is also the author of Ballots and Fence Rails: Reconstruction on the Lower Cape Fear.…

SOCIOLOY

Most of the history of the United States has been marred by systematic inequality based on race. While this history was at its worst while slavery was legal, well into the 20th Century saw The United States where words "All men are created equal" really meant "All White men are created equal."

While a variety of organizations worked to bring true equality for African-Americans, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC, stands out as an excellent example of "Resource Mobilization Theory," or RMB. The movement that became the SNCC began with college students who decided they could no longer tolerate segregation policies and began challenging the practice in a variety of ways. The organization grew to become a major factor in the fight for African-Americans to gain real social equity with Whites.

According to RMB, a movement for change uses whatever resources it can gather up as it pursues…

Aryan Nation -- Racism

The Aryan Nations (AN, aka Church of Jesus Christ Christian) is a Christian Identity-based hate group that was prominent in the 1980's with roots dating back to the 1940's and includes neo-Nazi, skinhead, Ku Klux Klan (KKK), white supremacist, and militia groups, many of which congregated and networked at the AN compound in Hayden Lake, Idaho (Lambert, 2011). The group worked to unite different groups that had a common denominator of believing in white supremacy relative to other races. The group had some success in organizing and one splinter group had actually stole four million dollars with the hopes of overthrowing the United States government. This analysis will look at the origins of the group, it's activities that the groups engaged in a the peak of their momentum, and the reasons and factors that represent the groups steady decline from this peak.

ackground

The roots of…

2016, Donald Trump was set to speak before the merican Israel Public ffairs Committee (IPC), a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group. The potential political alliance seems a strange one. fter all, Trump has made seemingly anti-Semitic statements and has welcomed the support of white supremacy groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Trump's stance on immigrants and particularly his stance on Muslims remind many Jews of dark times of persecution, prejudice, and pogroms. The demagogue and presidential hopeful has also wavered on his support of Israel. Moreover, merican Jews traditionally vote Democrat.

t the same time, Trump's daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism to marry an Orthodox Jewish man. Trump also supports controversial Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Some members of IPC champion Trump's hard-lined stance towards ISIS and believe that Trump would be Israel's strongest ally among all other possible presidential candidates. Trump has worked closely with Jewish partners in New York…

Discovery

Because of its cosmopolitan sensibilities, many of us forget that New York City also harbors hate groups. Yet according to the Southern Poverty Law Center's "hate map," 44 groups from the KKK to jihadist groups operate in the city. Some of these groups are overtly hate-filled, like the KKK, but others operate more covertly, like Castle Hill Publishers, whose leader has been an avowed holocaust denier. Because some of these groups were previously unknown to me, I decided to focus on one that might have gone unrecognized for what it is: the Alamo Christian Foundation. Typically a Christian organization should not be a hate group but the Southern Poverty Law Center shows how and why the Alamo Christian Foundation preaches "general hate."

Description

The Alamo Christian Foundation (Tony Alamo Christian Ministries) appears to have a platform that includes conspiracy theories of all types, related to UFOs and government infiltration…

Nationalization Era

3. What was "white backlash"? Give an example of an event that demonstrates "white backlash" and why.

“White backlash” refers to the antagonistic, often violent response of white supremacists to civil rights and social justice. Although the term might apply especially well to the 1960s, the era in which President Johnson passed the landmark Civil Rights Act, white backlash can easily be traced back to the Reconstruction Era and the rise of the KKK. Rather than welcome the potential for an egalitarian and harmonious society, white supremacists clung to racist beliefs and used whatever means possible to retain political and social hegemony. Any resistance to positive social change related to racial parity, social justice, and civil rights can be considered “white backlash.”

In the 1960s, white backlash took on new forms. As legislation at the federal level turned the tide against white supremacy throughout the nation, groups like…

How does the growth of (relatively unregulated) industrial corporate capitalism have on peoples lives and on crime?During the Gilded Age businesses began to grow. During this time there was a lot of racial tension and fear because these businesses would try to pay as little as possible to their employees and thus favored recent immigrants. Recent immigrants could work hard for very little and directly competed with the Americans who were impoverished looking for a decent paying job. The great fear back then was that America would be swallowed by immigrants. A good example of this were Chinese railroad laborers. ith increased wealth stratification in cities thanks to the industrial revolution, the wealthy were very wealthy, and the poor had to live in slums.Examples of the wealthy homes were Astor Mansion and Vanderbilt. However, poor people were in such dire straits, some slept outside huddled together. If they lived in…

" Prohibition, the Red Scare, and the Klan were responses to the flapper, reflecting anxieties about newly pluralistic demographics in the form of Mexican and Japanese immigrants as well as Africa-Americans and religious minorities such as Jewish people and Catholics. Many Americans saw modernity, as they conceptualized it, as a curse, not a blessing. The causes of the "Modern Temper were thus a culture clash of old and new, of a reaction to Progressivism as well as a desire to kick up the nation's heels at the end of World War I and a delight at the ability of more individuals to enter the more leisured consumer class. The national focus shifted to private solutions for social problems, such as women's interest in work rather than winning the vote, the Harlem Renaissance's emphasis on literature and newspapers to give Blacks a voice, and the retreat of organized labor and government's…