The resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan brought back a more violent pro-white/anti-minority rights mindset to white America after a lull in hate crimes. This came about through a major event in American history that created a "white is might" mindset. The major event was the creation of the film The Birth of a Nation. This film was directed by D.W. Griffith, released in February 18th 1915 (Gallagher), and was an instant hit in theaters and white families across the United States. The movie was such a success that it was the highest grossing film for 38 years (Filmsite). The reason why this movie was such a success was it glorified the Ku Klux Klan as a sort of superhero here to defend the United States against the unintelligent and women mongering African Americans. After this film was premiered, a group of white supremacists who were influenced by the movie went and created the second Ku Klux Klan. This movie made a large impact on how the KKK is a good thing, because the number of members in the Klan at it's epitome was 4.5 million people (Griffey).
Even in the second Klan the Klansman were trying to change the rights for black people back to how they were. "We know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves, and if any think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with wholesome discretion, we believe the remedy is not to take the powers from them, but to inform discretion by education." (Kloran).
The Klan members would continue to escalate the attacks on African American citizens in order to test the acceptance of their actions from the general public. In Georgia - where lynchings were not uncommon - a black woman was tied to a tree and then set on fire to pay for her words against illegal lynchings (Bernstein).
The Klan members would continue to escalate the attacks on African American citizens in order to test the acceptance of their actions from the general public. In Georgia - where lynchings were not uncommon - a black woman was tied to a tree and then set on fire to pay for her words against illegal lynchings (Bernstein).
The second Klan however moved to less lethal forms of violence and implemented flogging as an alternative. Even though flogging was a useful tactic to assert dominance over blacks without killing them, sometimes Klan members would beat their victims to death. One example of being flogged to death was S.S. Mincey . He was a seventy year old politician whose political activities angered the Klan and in turn was killed (USG). Another thing that changed with African Americans due to the actions of the Ku Klux Klan was that life was so bad for Blacks, that over 1.5 million blacks moved from the South to the North during the Nadir of Race Relations (William).
However even though death and beatings are horrendous things, having no rights and having the country you live in against you can be more painful. "People know about the Klan and the overt racism, but the killing of one's soul little by little, day after day, is a lot worse than someone coming in your house and lynching you." (Jackson)
However even though death and beatings are horrendous things, having no rights and having the country you live in against you can be more painful. "People know about the Klan and the overt racism, but the killing of one's soul little by little, day after day, is a lot worse than someone coming in your house and lynching you." (Jackson)