The Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United States

The Ku Klux Klan, commonly referred to as the KKK, is an American terrorist group. The Ku Klux Klan promotes white supremacy and far-right extremism. The first historical Klan was founded in 1865 by officers of the Confederate army in the United States. Over time, the group developed into a fraternal organization promoting white supremacy through violence and political scheming. At its height in 1925, it had 4 million members (“Ku Klux Klan,” Southern Poverty Law Center). A third wave of Klan violence erupted in the 1960s during the civil rights movement. Along with Black Americans, the KKK also targets Catholic and Jewish people, immigrants, and LGBTQ+ people. The Ku Klux Klan continues to have small chapters across the United States. In 2015, 190 chapters were reported.

Lynching describes the public killing of a person outside of the process of the law. Individuals killed by lynching are not afforded an investigation or a trial. During the 19th and 20th centuries, lynchings were common in the American South. Black citizens were tortured and killed; the methods were brutal and varied, though victims were often hanged from trees. White mobs were most often responsible for enacting a lynching, and spectators—including women and children—observed the killings as entertainment.