The Ku Klux Klan

The author offers an account that portrays the organization’s emergence in the postwar South as a social club that evolved into a secret, quasi-military force intended to intimidate freed people and Northern newcomers. The narrative mixes anecdote, veteran testimony, and ritual material to describe origins, claimed leadership, uniforms, initiation ceremonies, and theatrical pranks and threats used to enforce local order. The volume reproduces oaths and prescripts, includes personal recollections and photographs, and frames these practices as measures taken to restore stability after wartime upheaval.