Klansville USA

    After watching this documentary, I am no aware of how the KKK started. I had no clue that it was originally just like a fraternity and meant to be a joke. They would dress up in "elaborate" costumes and go around scaring freed slaves into thinking they were ghosts of Confederate generals. Once people saw the reaction of the freed slaves, they realized their fear could allow the whites to take control over the blacks once again. In small, rural South Carolina there wasn't a lot to do in the 1960s, so people would be thrilled to go to klan rallies and participate in all the activities they had. It wasn't hard to get whites to join the KKK and many of the people found it easy, considering their children were being integrated into schools with other black children. Many parents resisted this idea. Bob Jones was the most successful Grand Dragon in the KKK, as he was a native of Salisbury, North Carolina and he had a chapter of members 10,000 strong. He gained a decent amount of members because they were uneducated and poor white men, who were angry with blacks and wanted to feel superior. He would hold daytime marches in small towns in North Carolina to show he wasn't afraid to show his views. However, wealthier people did not join the klan or openly say that they agreed with it, but they did not mind it as long as it was by the book and didn't cause trouble. Jones did not condone violence, or promote it, but it was known to happen from time to time. Mississippi and Alabama, at this time, were much worse in reference to violence.