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The Ku Klux Klan (/ˌkuː klʌks ˈklæn, ˌkjuː-/),[b] commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist terrorist hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Catholics, Native Americans[25][26] as well as immigrants, leftists, homosexuals, Muslims, and atheists.[27][28][29] The Klan has existed in three distinct eras. Each has advocated extremist reactionary positions such as white nationalism, anti-immigration and – especially in later iterations – Nordicism,[30][31] antisemitism, anti-Catholicism, Prohibition, right-wing populism, anti-communism, homophobia, Islamophobia, and anti-atheism. Historically, the first Klan used terrorism – both physical assault and murder – against politically active blacks and their allies in the Southern United States in the late 1860s. All three movements have called for the “purification“ of American society and all are considered right-wing extremist organizations.[32][33][34][35] In each era, membership was secret and estimates of the total were highly exaggerated by both friends and enemies. The first Klan was established in the wake of the American Civil War and was a defining organization of the Reconstruction era. Organized in the Southern United States, it was suppressed through federal intervention in the early 1870s. It sought to overthrow the Republican state governments in the South, especially by using voter intimidation and targeted violence against African-American leaders. Each chapter was autonomous and highly secret as to membership and plans. Its numerous chapters across the South were suppressed around 1871, through federal law enforcement. Members made their own, often colorful, costumes: robes, masks and conical hats, designed to be terrifying and to hide their identities.
