The Enforcement of the Jim Crow Laws through the Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan deserved some credit for the enforcement of the Jim Crow Laws. After lynching many African Americans for various reasons (having a job whites wanted, not working for whites, fighting with whites, and just being black) in 1871, the government passed the Ku Klux Klan Act (Pbs.org, 2002). Each state now had the right to prosecute a Klan member for an act of injustice. Because of this, by 1872, Klan activity died down until 1915. In 1915, at the start of WWI, Klan members were targeting immigrants, Jews, and Catholics as well as blacks, due to nostalgia for the "Old South" caused by an Atlanta pastor (History.com, 2013). The hostility of the new Klan was also fueled by the immigration increase due to political trouble in Russia. Klan members feared that new immigrants were not trustworthy and would begin a communist regime like in Russia in 1917. In the 1920's, the Klan reached its peak with four million members (History.com, 2013). Using burning crosses and marches, the Klan terrorized many other races besides African Americans. During the Great Depression, however, the number of Klan members and activity decreased (History.com, 2013). But when civil rights movements were starting to gain prominence in the 1960's, the Klan woke up again. Lynchings and beatings became a repeat of the 1870's. The government was shocked at the behavior that was starting to rise in the South. People who broke or spoke against the Jim Crow Laws were regularly targeted and threatened by the Ku Klux Klan, black or white. One civil rights worker, who was actually white, was murdered in 1965, resulting in the arrest of four Klan member (History.com, 2013). As a result, President Lyndon B. Johnson gave out a presidential speech condemning the acts of the Ku Klux Klan (History.com, 2013). Soon after that, the acts of the Klan members against Jim Crow Law breakers depleted, and the Klan would never rise to its 1920's peak ever again. Although there are about 5,000 Klan members today, never again will they inflict wide-spread violence like they did in the nineteenth and twentieth century.