Editing Ku Klux Klan (section)

=== The first Klan (1865 - 1871) ===
The Klan dates back to the post-Civil War era, when it was founded by [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee after their side lost the Civil War.<ref>[https://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/ku-klux-klan-founded-dec-24-1865-232856 Ku Klux Klan founded: Dec. 24, 1865], ''Politico''</ref> Former Confederate General [[Nathan Bedford Forrest]] served as the first Grand Wizard of the Klan.<ref>[https://huntsvillehistorycollection.org/hhc/showhpg.php?id=311&a=article Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest and the KKK], ''Huntsville History Collection''</ref>
[[File:TheKKK(2).png|thumb|The original Ku Klux Klan didn't wear the white robes or masks that the modern Klan don.|link=Special:FilePath/TheKKK(2).png]] As well as death by lynching earlier versions of the Klan would burn and shoot into the homes of black farmers, sometimes with their occupants still inside and often tried to frighten black farmers out of their own properties.

The first Klan was active roughly from 1865 until 1874. Although there was little organizational structure above the local level, similar groups rose across the South and adopted the same name and methods Klan groups spread throughout the South as an insurgent movement promoting resistance and white supremacy during the Reconstruction Era. For example, Confederate veteran [[John W. Morton]] founded a chapter in Nashville, Tennessee. As a secret vigilante group, the Klan targeted freedmen and their allies; it sought to restore white supremacy by threats and violence, including murder, against blacks and white Republicans. In 1870 and 1871, the federal government passed the Enforcement Acts, which were intended to prosecute and suppress Klan crimes.<ref>[https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/EnforcementActs.htm The Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871], United States Senate</ref>