Klansville USA: The KKK

During class for First Year Seminar, our professor sat us down to watch a documentary film known as Klansville USA. The film was based on the uprise of the Ku Klux Klan during the Civil Rights Era. What caught me by surprise the most, is that North Carolina held the largest number of Klu Klux Klan members. This made it very shocking and hard for me to watch because I live in the state of North Carolina. Overall, the rest of the film left me surprised, and it was well put together.

While watching the movie, the film described how the Ku Klux Klan became more active during the 1960s because of the recent decision made in the famous court case Brown vs. Board of Education. There was a total of four million members which were all white Americans. Their activity was so intense that nobody had seen the KKK this violent since the 1920s. Their purpose was to be as violent as they could towards the African Americans in order to "restore order" in the South.

By 1963, Bob Jones, North Carolina Salesmen, formed the largest KKK group in the entire country of The United States. In addition, while rallying up more members across the state, he then gave North Carolina its official nickname such Klansville, USA.

The idea of this sickened me, just thinking that there was a time period where Americans were so hateful towards other races because they actually believed it was right. However, I am thankful to say now that the Ku Klux Klan hasn't been an intensified issue today as it has been during the Civil Rights Era.