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The Ku Klux Klan is a terrorist group in the USA. Like all terrorist groups, it is an organisation which tries to achieve its goals by creating fear through violence. The KKK formed in 1866, just after the end of the Civil War, when the Southern "Confederate" States surrendered to the Northern "Unionist" States. The objective of the KKK was to keep the newly emanicipated African Americans in a state of social inferiority, and to deny them their social and civil rights. When Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery in 1863, African Americans logically had the same rights (to vote, to represent, to become civil servants, etc) as every other American citizen. However, this was not to be the case in many Southern states for a whole century, largely because of the Jim Crow Laws and the presence of the Ku Klux Klan.

The Ku Klux Klan terrorized the black population of the south in the first years after the civil war. Any black families who tried to exercise their rights, did so at their peril. If, for example, a black man voted in an election, he could find his house burnt down the next day. Members of the Ku Klux Klan dressed in white gowns, with white hoods and often attacked at night. The hoods were, of course, to prevent the African Americans from recognizing them, but this was not the only reason. The white population knew that the African Americans were very superstitious, so the KKK dressed in white with hoods to appear like "ghosts" to their victims. The aim was to terrorize the black population in every possible way.

At night Klan members often burned a cross on a hill near the houses of the black population. To the Klan members the "burning cross" symbolized "the burning away of evil". Members of the KKK believed that "white supremacy" was "God's will" and that, by keeping the black population in a position of social inferiority, they were doing something "Christian".

For the first decade after the Civil War, KKK membership was very high and there was a lot of violent attacks on the black population. But this became less necessary with the adoption of the Jim Crow Laws. These laws maintained the "status quo" in the Deep South, the black population remained largely docile, and there was no need for the KKK after a while.

Membership of the KKK increased greatly in the 1920s and, ironically, not because of the African American population. The Klan started organizing campaigns against Jewish immigration. In 1925 there was a huge "anti-semite" demonstration in Washington organized by the Klan. At this time it was estimated that membership of the Klan was about 4 million.

The influence and membership of the Klan decreased during the Roosevelt years and immediately after the war. However, the Klan was to know a resurgence in the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement. The Klan was responsible for numerous bombings and murders of Civil Rights activists during this period. And these acts of violence and terrorism prompted the intervention of the Federal Government in Washington.

Thanks to the work of the FBI during this period, when a number of Klan members were tried and prosecuted, the influence of the group has decreased greatly since the 1970s. The Klan still exists today but it is divided into dozens of separate organisations which are too small to have any great political influence. And although membership of the various Klan groups increased during Barack Obama's presidency, there are thought to be no more than 8,000 members today, a far cry from the millions of the 1920s and 1960s.

Now watch this video and write the answers to Exercise C on your sheet

Racial segregation existed in the southern states of the USA because of local laws which were called "Jim Crow Laws". Click here to complete your sheet on the Jim Crow Laws

Click to read about the « Jim Crow Laws»

Les élèves de 4eme D et 4eme E ont présenté certains de leurs professeurs. Voici quelques exemples :

Victor

Mélissa

Théo

Anne

Lorenzo

Aurélie

En jouant au jeu, essayez de trouver les deux erreurs grammaticales dans les paroles de cette chanson. Envoyez un commentaire si vous pensez avoir trouvé. Le premier à m'envoyer la bonne réponse aura un chocolat mardi !

En jouant, essayez de trouver les deux erreurs grammaticales dans cette chanson. Ecrivez un commentaire si vous pensez avoir trouvé !

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