KKK

Question 1

Intro

Answer 1

Some historians argue that the Ku Klux Klan were the largest obstacle to black people achieving civil rights.

Question 2

Knowledge 1

Answer 2

The KKK had been refounded by William K Simmons in 1915 and, as a white supremacist organisation, was committed to using fear, terror, and intimidation to prevent black people from claiming their civil rights.

Question 3

Analysis 1

Answer 3

This was an important obstacle to black people because any who attempted to improve their status were likely to be targeted by this increasingly powerful organisation, as evidenced by the lynching of more than 3000 black people between 1880 and 1941.

Question 4

Knowledge 2

Answer 4

Furthermore, the KKK had 5 million members by 1925.

Question 5

Analysis 2

Answer 5

This was a significant obstacle to black civil rights as any attempts to shut them down had failed as many members had become sheriffs, judges, and even a future supreme court justice.

Question 6

Counter Analysis

Answer 6

However, historians argue that whilst the violence exemplified by the KKK was a significant deterrent to Black people seeking equality in the Southern states in particular, the KKK’s influence reduced by the late 1920s and as such it’s membership started to deplete

Question 7

Evaluation

Answer 7

To evaluate, whilst the KKK were undoubtedly an influenced white supremacist organisation that enjoyed widespread support in such stats as Oklahoma and Oregon and excersied significant political influence. However, it is clear that the KKK could not have grown to prominence without the existence of prejudice and racism.Indeed prejudice and racism was the oxygen that breathed life into the lungs of the KKK.