The Ku Klux Klan was a secret racist terrorist organization that was founded in Tennessee, United States in 1865. The original purpose of the Ku Klux Klan was to protect whites from attacks by armed black criminal groups. Subsequently, the organization began to persecute all African Americans, as well as whites who supported them. The organization was most active in Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Louisiana.
Meaning and history
A few months after the end of the American Civil War, in 1865, in the defeated South in Pulaski, Tennessee, Judge Thomas L. Jones and six Southern army veterans – McCord, Lester, Kennedy, Crowe, Jones, and Reed – decided to form a secret organization dedicated to defending racial ideals, the Ku Klux Klan.
It was Reed who suggested the name “Knights of Kyklos” (κύκλος from Greek – circle, circumference), but before that, there was a society called “Knights of the Golden Ring”, so the Scotsman Kennedy suggested adding the word “clan”, which in his culture meant clan, family, a bond of close people. However, they decided to modify the name slightly to resemble the sound of a rifle bolt. This is how the Ku Klux Klan came to be.
According to another version, the name of the organization came from the Latin word Cucullo, which translates as “Hood”, and this is quite true, as the most characteristic feature of the members of the group was their uniforms with sharp triangular hoods, completely covering their faces.
A rather complex structure of the organization was developed. The society itself was named the Invisible Empire of the South, and its head was called Grand Wizard. The Grand Wizard had a council of ten Geniuses. This was the top of the organization. Each state in which the Ku Klux Clan was operating was called a Kingdom, headed by the Grand Dragon and the local council, the Eight Hydras. Then came the lower ranks, each of which was also given an intricate name.
The goals of the Ku Klux Clan were enshrined in a single Charter. The basic tenets were to save the country from Negro invasion and the white race from humiliation. Klan members vowed to prevent racial equality. It is officially established that in the five years since the KKK’s inception, more than 15,000 murders have been committed.
In its more than a century and a half of history, the Ku Klux Klan has been suspended numerous times but has been resurrected again. Despite the racist ideas of white supremacy, the organization was able to survive to this day, although the ranks of its supporters have shrunk several times.
By the way, to this day in the city of Pewlaski on the wall of the local courthouse there is a plaque commemorating the fact that on December 24, 1865, Judge Thomas L. Jones and six other individuals organized the organization. Jones and six others organized the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) here.
The main symbols of the ultra-right organization Ku Klux Klan are a burning cross and a white hoodie and a direct reference to them is seen in their emblem, which has not changed since the beginning of the creation.
1946 – Today
The Ku Klux Klan emblem is a solid red roundel in a thick black outlined with the stylized white cross drawn on it. The central part of the cross is overlapped by a white rhombus in a distinctive black frame, with a red flame in the shape of an upside-down comma. This heraldic emblem represents the burning cross, which has always been the main recognizable visual symbol of the organization.
Font and color
The primary version of the Ku Klux Klan logo does not contain any lettering, however, in some sources, you can find the badge with the roundel surrounded by a bold uppercase inscription in an elegant serif typeface.
As for the color palette of the Ku Klux Klan’s visual identity, it is based on red (the color of fire and fierce), white (the main color of the organization members’ hoods), and black, which completes the composition-making it stronger and more distinctive.