Ku Klux Klan

===Later Klans: 1950s–present===
In 1944, the second KKK was disbanded by Imperial Wizard [[James A. Colescott]] after the IRS levied a large tax liability against the organization.<ref>{{cite news |title=Dr. Colescott Dies. Successor of Hiram W. Evans Disbanded Order in 1944. Joined Group in 1920s. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/01/13/archives/dr-colescott-dies-exchief-of-klan-successor-of-hiram-w-evans.html |quote=Dr. James A. Colescott, former chief of the Ku Klux Klan, died last night in the United States veterans' Hospital at Coral Gables. His age was 53. ... |work=The New York Times |date=January 13, 1950 |access-date=February 11, 2009 |archive-date=February 4, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204211450/http://www.nytimes.com/1950/01/13/archives/dr-colescott-dies-exchief-of-klan-successor-of-hiram-w-evans.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1946, [[Samuel Green (Klansman)|Samuel Green]] reestablished the KKK at a ceremony on Stone Mountain.{{sfn|Quarles|1999|pp=80–83}} His group primarily operated in Georgia. Green was succeeded by [[Samuel Roper (Ku Klux Klan)|Samuel Roper]] as Imperial Wizard in 1949, and Roper was succeeded by [[Eldon Edwards]] in 1950.<ref name="ajcobit1986">Staff report (March 4, 1986). Samuel W. Roper, 90, was second director of GBI in early 1940s. ''[[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]]''</ref> Based in Atlanta, Edwards worked to rebuild the organization by uniting the different factions of the KKK from other parts of the United States, but the strength of the organization was short-lived, and the group fractured as it competed with other klan organizations. In 1959, [[Roy Elonzo Davis|Roy Davis]] was elected to follow Edwards as national leader.<ref>{{cite news|title=Imperial Wizard Says KKK's Membership Very Small in Texas|date=February 11, 1961|work=Dallas Morning News}}</ref> Edwards had previously appointed Davis Grand Dragon of Texas in an effort to unite their two klan organizations. Davis was already leading the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Davis held rallies Florida and other southern states during 1961 and 1962 recruiting members. Davis had been a close associate of William J. Simmons and been active in the KKK since it first reformed in 1915.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ku Klux Klan Active In Shreveport Area|publisher=The Times of Shreveport|date=February 10, 1961}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Klan Is Renounced By 4,000 at Chattanooga|publisher=The Tennessean|date=October 4, 1924}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Simmons Order Growing Rapidly|publisher=Arkansas Gazette|date=October 6, 1924}}</ref>

Congress launched an investigation into the KKK in early 1964, following the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]] in Dallas. Davis, based in Dallas, resigned as Imperial Wizard of the Original Knights shortly after the Original Knights received a Congressional subpoena. The Original Knights became increasingly fractured in the immediate aftermath as many members were forced to testify before Congress.<ref name=c49>{{cite book |author=Committee on Un-American Activities |title=Activities of Ku Klux Klan Organizations of the United States; Parts 1–5 |publisher=United States Congress |date=January 1966 |page=49}}</ref> The [[White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan]] formed in 1964 after splitting from the Original Knights.<ref name="noag">{{cite news|title=No Assistance Given In Case|date=May 18, 1965|publisher=Lake Charles American Press}}</ref> According to an FBI report published in May 1965, the KKK was divided into 14 different organizations at the time with a total membership of approximately 9,000.<ref name="noag"/> The FBI reported that Roy Davis's Original Knights was the largest faction and had about 1,500 members. [[Robert Shelton (Ku Klux Klan)|Robert Shelton]] of Alabama was leading a faction of 400–600 members.<ref name="noag"/> Congressional investigators found that by the end of 1965 most members of Original Knights organization joined Shelton's United Klans and the Original Knights of the KKK disbanded. Shelton's United Klan continued to absorb members from the competing factions and remained the largest Klan group unto the 1970s, peaking with an estimated 30,000 members and another 250,000 non-member supporters during the late 1960s.<ref name=c49/><ref name="UKA-Obit">{{cite news |title=Robert Shelton, 73, Leader of Big Klan Faction |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/20/us/robert-shelton-73-leader-of-big-klan-faction.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 20, 2003 |access-date=September 18, 2007 |archive-date=May 18, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090518014732/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/20/us/robert-shelton-73-leader-of-big-klan-faction.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

====1950s–1960s: post-war opposition to civil rights====
After the decline of the national organization, small independent groups adopted the name "Ku Klux Klan", along with variations. They had no formal relationships with each other, and most had no connection to the second KKK, except for the fact that they copied its terminology and costumes. Beginning in the 1950s, for instance, individual Klan groups in [[Birmingham, Alabama]], began to resist social change and Black people's efforts to improve their lives by bombing houses in transitional neighborhoods. The white men worked in mining and steel industries, with access to these materials. There were so many bombings of Black people's homes in Birmingham by Klan groups in the 1950s that the city was nicknamed "[[Bombingham]]".{{sfn|McWhorter|2001}}

During the tenure of [[Bull Connor]] as police commissioner in Birmingham, Klan groups were closely allied with the police and operated with impunity. When the [[Freedom Riders]] arrived in Birmingham in 1961, Connor gave Klan members fifteen minutes to attack the riders before sending in the police to quell the attack.{{sfn|McWhorter|2001}} When local and state authorities failed to protect the Freedom Riders and activists, the federal government began to establish intervention and protection. In states such as Alabama and [[Mississippi]], Klan members forged alliances with governors' administrations.{{sfn|McWhorter|2001}} In Birmingham and elsewhere, the KKK groups bombed the houses of [[civil rights]] activists. In some cases they used physical violence, intimidation, and assassination directly against individuals. Continuing [[disfranchisement]] of Black people across the South meant that most could not serve on juries, which were [[all-white juries|all-white]] and demonstrably biased verdicts and sentences.{{sfn|McWhorter|2001}}

[[File:FBI Poster of Missing Civil Rights Workers.jpg|thumb|[[Andrew Goodman (activist)|Goodman]], [[James Chaney|Chaney]], and [[Michael Schwerner|Schwerner]] were three civil rights workers abducted and murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan.]]
According to a report from the [[Southern Regional Council]] in [[Atlanta]], the homes of 40 Black Southern families were bombed during 1951 and 1952. Some of the bombing victims were social activists whose work exposed them to danger, but most were either people who refused to bow to racist convention or were innocent bystanders, unsuspecting victims of random violence.{{sfn|Egerton|1994|pp=562–563}}

Among the more notorious murders by Klan members in the 1950s and 1960s were:
* The 1951 Christmas Eve bombing of the home of [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] (NAACP) activists [[Harry T. Moore|Harry and Harriette Moore]] in [[Mims, Florida]], resulting in their deaths.<ref>"[http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/454.html Who Was Harry T. Moore?]" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118102012/http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/454.html |date=January 18, 2012 }} ''The Palm Beach Post'', August 16, 1999.</ref>
* The 1957 murder of [[Willie Edwards|Willie Edwards Jr]]., who was forced by Klansmen to jump to his death from a bridge into the [[Alabama River]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Cox |first=Major W. |title=Justice Still Absent in Bridge Death |url=http://www.majorcox.com/columns/edwards1.htm |work=[[Montgomery Advertiser]] |date=March 2, 1999  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126110805/http://majorcox.com/columns/edwards1.htm |archive-date=November 26, 2010}}</ref>
* The 1963 assassination of NAACP organizer [[Medgar Evers]] in Mississippi. In 1994, former Ku Klux Klansman [[Byron De La Beckwith]] was convicted.
* The [[16th Street Baptist Church bombing]] in September 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, which killed four [[African-American|African American]] girls and injured 22 people. The perpetrators were Klan members [[Robert Chambliss]], convicted in 1977, [[Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr.]] and [[Bobby Frank Cherry]], convicted in 2001 and 2002. The fourth suspect, [[Herman Cash]], died before he was indicted.
* The 1964 [[murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner]], three civil rights workers, in Mississippi. Seven men were convicted of federal civil rights charges in the 1960s. In June 2005, Klan member [[Edgar Ray Killen]] was convicted of state [[manslaughter]] charges.<ref>{{cite news |last=Axtman |first=Kris |title=Mississippi verdict greeted by a generation gap |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0623/p01s03-ussc.html |work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |date=June 23, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060629153401/http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0623/p01s03-ussc.html |archive-date=June 29, 2006 |url-status=live  }}</ref>
* The 1964 murder of two Black teenagers, [[Mississippi Cold Case#Moore and Dee murders|Henry Hezekiah Dee]] and [[Mississippi Cold Case#Moore and Dee murders|Charles Eddie Moore]] in Mississippi. In August 2007, based on the confession of Klansman [[Charles Marcus Edwards]], [[James Ford Seale]], a reputed Ku Klux Klansman, was convicted. Seale was sentenced to serve three life sentences. Seale, who died in prison in 2011, was a former Mississippi policeman and sheriff's deputy.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.findlaw.com/usatoday/docs/crights/usseale12407ind.html |title=Reputed Klansman, Ex-Cop, and Sheriff's Deputy Indicted For The 1964 Murders of Two Young African-American Men in Mississippi; U.S. v. James Ford Seale |access-date=March 23, 2008 |date=January 24, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328042914/http://news.findlaw.com/usatoday/docs/crights/usseale12407ind.html |archive-date=March 28, 2008 }}</ref>
* The 1965 Alabama murder of [[Viola Liuzzo]]. She was a Southern-raised [[Detroit]] mother of five who was visiting the state in order to attend a civil rights march. At the time of her murder, Liuzzo was transporting Civil Rights marchers related to the [[Selma to Montgomery marches|Selma to Montgomery March]].
* The 1966 firebombing death of NAACP leader [[Vernon Dahmer]] Sr., 58, in Mississippi. In 1998 former Ku Klux Klan wizard [[Samuel Bowers]] was convicted of his murder and sentenced to life. Two other Klan members were indicted with Bowers, but one died before trial and the other's indictment was dismissed.
* In July 1966, in [[Bogalusa, Louisiana]], a stronghold of Klan activity, Clarence Triggs was found murdered.<ref>{{cite news | last=Keller |first=Larry |title=Klan Murder Shines Light on Bogalusa, La |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2009/klan-murder-shines-light-bogalusa-la. |url-status=live |work=Intelligence Report |date=May 29, 2009 |access-date=August 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170814055432/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2009/klan-murder-shines-light-bogalusa-la |archive-date=August 14, 2017}}</ref>
* The 1967 multiple bombings in Jackson, Mississippi, of the residence of a [[Methodist]] activist, Robert Kochtitzky, the [[synagogue]], and the residence of [[Rabbi]] Perry Nussbaum. These were carried out by Klan member Thomas Albert Tarrants III, who was convicted in 1968. Another Klan bombing was averted in Meridian the same year.<ref>Nelson, Jack. (1993). ''Terror in the Night: The Klan's Campaign Against the Jews''. New York: Simon and Schuster. pp. 208–211. {{ISBN|0671692232}}.</ref>

====Resistance====
There was considerable resistance among African Americans and white allies to the Klan. In 1953, newspaper publishers [[W. Horace Carter]] ([[Tabor City, North Carolina]]), who had campaigned for three years, and Willard Cole ([[Whiteville, North Carolina]]) shared the [[Pulitzer Prize for Public Service]] citing "their successful campaign against the Ku Klux Klan, waged on their own doorstep at the risk of economic loss and personal danger, culminating in the conviction of over one hundred Klansmen and an end to terrorism in their communities".<ref>"[http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Public-Service Public Service]" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112124907/http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Public-Service |date=November 12, 2013 }}. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved November 8, 2013.</ref> In a 1958 incident in [[North Carolina]], the Klan burned crosses at the homes of two [[Lumbee]] [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] for associating with white people, and threatened more actions. When the KKK held a nighttime rally nearby, they were quickly surrounded by hundreds of armed Lumbee. Gunfire was exchanged, and the Klan was routed at what became known as the [[Battle of Hayes Pond]].<ref>Ingalls 1979</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/ref/nchistory/jan2005/jan05.html |title=January 1958&nbsp;– The Lumbees face the Klan |author=Graham, Nicholas |date=January 2005 |publisher=[[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]] |access-date=June 26, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024123305/http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/ref/nchistory/jan2005/jan05.html |archive-date=October 24, 2007 }}</ref>

While the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) had paid informants in the Klan (for instance, in Birmingham in the early 1960s), its relations with local law enforcement agencies and the Klan were often ambiguous. The head of the FBI, [[J. Edgar Hoover]], appeared more concerned about Communist links to civil rights activists than about controlling Klan excesses against citizens. In 1964, the FBI's [[COINTELPRO]] program began attempts to infiltrate and disrupt civil rights groups.{{sfn|McWhorter|2001}}

As 20th-century Supreme Court rulings extended federal enforcement of citizens' [[civil rights]], the government revived the [[Enforcement Acts]] and the [[Klan Act]] from Reconstruction days. Federal prosecutors used these laws as the basis for investigations and indictments in the 1964 [[murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner]];<ref>{{cite web| url=http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/Change-CivRts2.html |title=The Civil Rights Movement, 1964–1968 |author=Simon, Dennis M. |publisher=[[Southern Methodist University]]  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050827194827/http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/Change-CivRts2.html |archive-date=August 27, 2005 }}</ref> and the 1965 murder of [[Viola Liuzzo]]. They were also the basis for prosecution in 1991 in ''[[Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic]]''.

In 1965, the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] started an investigation on the Klan, putting in the public spotlight its front organizations, finances, methods and divisions.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|date=1965|title=Ku Klux Klan Probe Begun |url=https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal65-875-26759-1261051|journal=CQ Almanac|edition=21|pages=1517–1525|access-date=August 14, 2017}}</ref>

====1970s–present====
[[File:Kkk-march-violence.jpg|thumb|Violence at a Klan march in [[Mobile, Alabama]], 1977]]
After federal legislation was passed prohibiting legal segregation and authorizing enforcement of protection of voting rights, KKK groups began to oppose court-ordered [[desegregation busing|busing to desegregate schools]], [[affirmative action]], and the more open [[Immigration to the United States|immigration]] authorized in the 1960s. In 1971, KKK members used bombs to destroy 10 school buses in [[Pontiac, Michigan]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Times |first=William K. Stevens Special to The New York |date=1973-05-22 |title=5 Ex-Klansmen Convicted in School Bus Bomb Plot |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/05/22/archives/5-exklansmen-convicted-in-school-bus-bomb-plot.html |access-date=2023-07-06 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=July 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230707162447/https://www.nytimes.com/1973/05/22/archives/5-exklansmen-convicted-in-school-bus-bomb-plot.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Daily Illini 10 September 1971 — Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections |url=https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/?a=d&d=DIL19710910.2.14&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN---------- |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=idnc.library.illinois.edu |archive-date=July 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230707161827/https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/?a=d&d=DIL19710910.2.14&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN---------- |url-status=live }}</ref> By 1975, there were known KKK groups on most college campuses in Louisiana as well as at [[Vanderbilt University]], the [[University of Georgia]], the [[University of Mississippi]], the [[University of Akron]], and the [[University of Southern California]].<ref name="imperialwizardofkkk">{{cite news |title='Ladies' Become Vocal in Ku Klux Klan |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/22745082/?terms=%22vanderbilt%2Buniversity%22%2B%22ku%2Bklux%2Bklan%22 |newspaper=The Post-Crescent |location=Appleton, Wisconsin |date=May 23, 1975 |page=9 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=July 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307035011/https://www.newspapers.com/image/22745082/?terms=%22vanderbilt%2Buniversity%22%2B%22ku%2Bklux%2Bklan%22 |archive-date=March 7, 2016 |url-status=live  }} {{Open access}}</ref>

=====Massacre of Communist Workers' Party protesters=====
On November 3, 1979, five communist protesters were killed by KKK and [[American Nazi Party]] members in [[Greensboro, North Carolina]], in what is known as the [[Greensboro massacre]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.democracynow.org/2004/11/18/remembering_the_1979_greensboro_massacre_25 |title=Remembering the 1979 Greensboro Massacre: 25 Years Later Survivors Form Country's First Truth and Reconciliation Commission |work=[[Democracy Now!]] |date=November 18, 2004 |access-date=August 15, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090806031642/http://www.democracynow.org/2004/11/18/remembering_the_1979_greensboro_massacre_25 |archive-date=August 6, 2009 |url-status=live  }}</ref> The [[Communist Workers' Party (United States)|Communist Workers' Party]] had sponsored a rally against the Klan in an effort to organize predominantly Black industrial workers in the area.<ref name="wayback">Mark Hand (November 18, 2004). [http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/hand11182004/ "The Greensboro Massacre"]. Press Action. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006171314/http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/hand11182004/ |date=October 6, 2008 }}</ref> Klan members drove up with arms in their car trunks, and attacked marchers.

=====Jerry Thompson infiltration=====
Jerry Thompson, a newspaper reporter who infiltrated the KKK in 1979, reported that the FBI's [[COINTELPRO]] efforts were highly successful. Rival KKK factions accused each other's leaders of being [[FBI informant]]s. William Wilkinson of the Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, was revealed to have been working for the FBI.{{sfn|Thompson|1982}}

Thompson also related that KKK leaders showed great concern about a series of civil lawsuits filed by the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]], claiming damages amounting to millions of dollars. These were filed after KKK members shot into a group of African Americans.<!-- which event is this? --> Klansmen curtailed their activities in order to conserve money for defense against the lawsuits. The KKK also used lawsuits as tools; they filed a libel suit in order to prevent the publication of a paperback edition of Thompson's book but were unsuccessful.

=====Chattanooga shooting=====
In 1980, three KKK members shot four elderly Black women (Viola Ellison, Lela Evans, Opal Jackson, and Katherine Johnson) in [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]], following a KKK initiation rally. A fifth woman, Fannie Crumsey, was injured by flying glass in the incident. Attempted murder charges were filed against the three KKK members, two of whom—Bill Church and Larry Payne—were acquitted by an [[all-white jury]]. The third defendant, Marshall Thrash, was sentenced by the same jury to nine months on lesser charges. He was released after three months.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r59bGyH4lOAC&q=1980+chattanooga+kkk+shootings&pg=PA22 |title=The White Separatist Movement in the United States: "White Power, White Pride!" |author=Betty A. Dobratz & Stephanie L. Shanks-Meile |publisher=JHU Press |date=2000|access-date=February 20, 2011|isbn=978-0801865374}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/news/john-roberts/accession-60-89-0173/039-civil-rights-division-anti-klan/folder039.pdf |title=Women's Appeal for Justice in Chattanooga&nbsp;– US Department of Justice |access-date=February 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522025207/http://www.archives.gov/news/john-roberts/accession-60-89-0173/039-civil-rights-division-anti-klan/folder039.pdf |archive-date=May 22, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19800422&id=5SMNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6077,4796456 |work=The Victoria Advocate |title=Bonds for Klan Upheld |via=Google News |date=April 22, 1980 |access-date=February 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919034508/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19800422&id=5SMNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QmsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6077,4796456 |archive-date=September 19, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1982, a jury awarded the five women $535,000 in a civil trial.<ref>{{cite news |author=UPI |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/28/us/around-the-nation-jury-award-to-5-blacks-hailed-as-blow-to-klan.html?n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FSubjects%2FB%2FBlack%20Culture%20and%20 |work=The New York Times |title=History Around the Nation; Jury Award to 5 Blacks Hailed as Blow to Klan |location=Chattanooga, TN |date=February 28, 1982 |access-date=February 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512151509/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/28/us/around-the-nation-jury-award-to-5-blacks-hailed-as-blow-to-klan.html?n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FSubjects%2FB%2FBlack%20Culture%20and%20 |archive-date=May 12, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=====Michael Donald lynching=====
After [[Lynching of Michael Donald|Michael Donald was lynched]] in 1981 in [[Alabama]], the FBI investigated his death. The US attorney prosecuted the case. Two local KKK members were convicted for his murder, including Henry Francis Hays who was sentenced to death. After exhausting the appeals process, Hays was executed by [[electric chair]] for Donald's death in Alabama on June 6, 1997.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ex-Klansman sheds tears for victim before execution |url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/564664/Ex-Klansman-sheds-tears-for-victim-before-execution.html?pg=all|access-date=June 15, 2016|work=Deseret News|date=June 6, 1997|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804211903/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/564664/Ex-Klansman-sheds-tears-for-victim-before-execution.html?pg=all|archive-date=August 4, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> It was the first time since 1913 that a white man had been executed in Alabama for a crime against an African American.<ref name="age" />

With the support of attorneys [[Morris Dees]] of the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] (SPLC) and state senator [[Michael A. Figures]], Donald's mother [[Beulah Mae Donald]] sued the KKK in civil court in Alabama. Her lawsuit against the [[United Klans of America]] was tried in February 1987.<ref name="jesse" /> The all-white jury found the Klan responsible for the lynching of Donald, and ordered the Klan to pay US$7&nbsp;million, but the KKK did not have sufficient funds to pay the fine. They had to sell off their national headquarters building in [[Tuscaloosa, Alabama|Tuscaloosa]].<ref name="jesse">{{cite news |last=Kornbluth |first=Jesse |title=The Woman Who Beat The Klan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/01/magazine/the-woman-who-beat-the-klan.html?pagewanted=all|url-status=live |work=[[The New York Times Magazine]] |date=November 1, 1987 |access-date=June 15, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808010100/http://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/01/magazine/the-woman-who-beat-the-klan.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=August 8, 2016}}</ref><ref name=age>{{cite news|title=Klan Member Put to Death In Race Death|date=June 6, 1997|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/06/us/klan-member-put-to-death-in-race-death.html|access-date=August 9, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015053956/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/06/us/klan-member-put-to-death-in-race-death.html|archive-date=October 15, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

=====Neo-Nazi alliances and Stormfront=====
{{main|Stormfront (website)}}
In 1995, [[Don Black (white supremacist)|Don Black]] and Chloê Hardin, the ex-wife of the KKK grand wizard [[David Duke]], began a small [[bulletin board system]] (BBS) called [[Stormfront (website)|Stormfront]], which has become a prominent online forum for [[white nationalism]], [[Neo-Nazism]], [[hate speech]], [[racism]], and [[antisemitism]] in the early 21st century.<ref>"[http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/12/5/143556/393 RedState, White Supremacy, and Responsibility]" {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427010459/http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/12/5/143556/393 |date=April 27, 2016}}, ''[[Daily Kos]]'', December 5, 2005.</ref><ref name="FOX">[[Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)|Bill O'Reilly]], "[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,86338,00.html Circling the Wagons in Georgia]" {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604203422/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,86338,00.html |date=June 4, 2011}}, ''[[Fox News]]'', May 8, 2003.</ref><ref>"[http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2001/dtv2001-0023.html WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center: Case No. DTV2001-0023]" {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326190909/http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2001/dtv2001-0023.html |date=March 26, 2017}}, [[World Intellectual Property Organization]], January 13, 2002.</ref>

In a 2007 article by the ADL, it was reported that many KKK groups had formed strong alliances with other white supremacist groups, such as [[neo-Nazism|neo-Nazis]]. Some KKK groups have become increasingly "nazified", adopting the look and emblems of [[white power skinhead]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/affiliations.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=kkk |title=Ku Klux Klan&nbsp;– Affiliations&nbsp;– Extremism in America |publisher=[[Anti-Defamation League]] |access-date=July 28, 2010  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100729144311/http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/affiliations.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=kkk |archive-date=July 29, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Immigration fuels Klan surge {{!}} Facing South |url=https://www.facingsouth.org/2007/02/immigration-fuels-klan-surge.html |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=www.facingsouth.org |archive-date=July 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230704213942/https://www.facingsouth.org/2007/02/immigration-fuels-klan-surge.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-02-06 |title=Report: Supremacist activity flourishes |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna16995297 |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=NBC News |language=en |archive-date=July 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230704214622/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna16995297 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=====Current developments=====
The modern KKK is not one organization; rather, it is composed of small independent chapters across the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/default.asp |title=About the Ku Klux Klan&nbsp;– Extremism in America |publisher=[[Anti-Defamation League]]  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100725122657/http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/default.asp |archive-date=July 25, 2010 }}</ref> According to a 1999 ADL report, the KKK's estimated size then was "No more than a few thousand, organized into slightly more than 100 units".<ref name=adl-ak-kkk>{{cite web|url=http://www.adl.org/backgrounders/american_knights_kkk.asp |title=Church of the American Knights of the KKK |access-date=July 28, 2010 |date=October 22, 1999 |publisher=[[Anti-Defamation League]]  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100901094652/http://www.adl.org/backgrounders/american_knights_kkk.asp |archive-date=September 1, 2010}}</ref> In 2017, the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] (SPLC), which monitors extremist groups, estimated that there were "at least 29 separate, rival Klan groups currently active in the United States, and they compete with one another for members, dues, news media attention and the title of being the true heir to the Ku Klux Klan".<ref name="Stack">{{cite news |first=Liam |last=Stack |date=February 13, 2017 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/13/us/kkk-leader-death-frank-ancona.html |title=Leader of a Ku Klux Klan Group Is Found Dead in Missouri |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215102320/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/13/us/kkk-leader-death-frank-ancona.html |archive-date=February 15, 2017 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> The formation of independent chapters has made KKK groups more difficult to infiltrate, and researchers find it hard to estimate their numbers. Analysts believe that about two-thirds of KKK members are concentrated in the [[Southern United States]], with another third situated primarily in the lower [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]].<ref name=adl-ak-kkk /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp |title=Active U.S. Hate Groups |website=Intelligence Report |publisher=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]]  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050406181750/http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp |archive-date=April 6, 2005 }}</ref><ref name=adl-kkk>{{cite web|url=http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/default.asp |title=About the Ku Klux Klan&nbsp;– Extremism in America |publisher=[[Anti-Defamation League]] |access-date=July 28, 2010  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100725122657/http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/default.asp |archive-date=July 25, 2010 }}</ref>

For some time, the Klan's numbers have been steadily dropping. This decline has been attributed to the Klan's lack of competence in the use of the [[Internet]], their history of violence, a proliferation of competing [[hate group]]s, and a decline in the number of young [[racism|racist]] activists who are willing to join groups at all.<ref name="Slate 2012">{{cite news|last=Palmer|first=Brian|title=Ku Klux Kontraction: How did the KKK lose nearly one-third of its chapters in one year?|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/03/ku_klux_klan_in_decline_why_did_the_kkk_lose_so_many_chapters_in_2010_.html|access-date=March 25, 2012|newspaper=[[Slate Magazine]]|date=March 8, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325030239/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/03/ku_klux_klan_in_decline_why_did_the_kkk_lose_so_many_chapters_in_2010_.html|archive-date=March 25, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2015, the number of KKK chapters nationwide grew from 72 to 190. The SPLC released a similar report stating that "there were significant increases in Klan as well as [[Black separatist]] groups".<ref name="splc2016" />

A 2016 analysis by the SPLC found that hate groups in general were on the rise in the United States.<ref name="splc2016">{{cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2016/year-hate-and-extremism|title=The Year in Hate and Extremism|publisher=Southern Poverty Law|access-date=April 29, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402041946/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2016/year-hate-and-extremism|archive-date=April 2, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> The ADL published a report in 2016 that concluded: "Despite a persistent ability to attract media attention, organized Ku Klux Klan groups are actually continuing a long-term trend of decline. They remain a collection of mostly small, disjointed groups that continually change in name and leadership."<ref name="TatteredRobes" />

Recent KKK membership campaigns have stimulated people's anxieties about [[illegal immigration]], urban crime, [[civil union]]s, and [[same-sex marriage]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Knickerbocker |first=Brad |title=Anti-Immigrant Sentiments Fuel Ku Klux Klan Resurgence |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0209/p02s02-ussc.html |url-status=live |website=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |date=February 9, 2007 |access-date=April 5, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327201821/http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0209/p02s02-ussc.html |archive-date=March 27, 2008}}</ref> In 2006, J. Keith Akins argued that "Klan literature and propaganda is rabidly [[homophobic]] and encourages violence against [[gays]] and [[lesbians]].&nbsp;...Since the late 1970s, the Klan has increasingly focused its ire on this previously ignored population."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Akins |first1=J. Keith |title=The Ku Klux Klan: America's Forgotten Terrorists |journal=Law Enforcement Executive Forum |issue=January 2006 |page=137 |url=https://iletsbeiforumjournal.com/images/Issues/FreeIssues/ILEEF%202006-5.7.pdf#page=144 |access-date=November 30, 2020 |publisher=Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board Executive Institute |archive-date=October 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001232934/https://www.iletsbeiforumjournal.com/images/Issues/FreeIssues/ILEEF%202006-5.7.pdf#page=144 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Klan has produced [[Islamophobia|Islamophobic]] propaganda and distributed anti-Islamic flyers.<ref>{{cite news|last=Rink|first=Matthew|date=September 25, 2020|title=KKK-supportive notes dropped in Erie County driveways|work=[[Erie Times-News]]|url=https://www.goerie.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/09/25/kkk-supportive-notes-dropped-in-erie-county-driveways/42691653/|access-date=March 10, 2021|archive-date=March 2, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302191520/https://www.goerie.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/09/25/kkk-supportive-notes-dropped-in-erie-county-driveways/42691653/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[American Civil Liberties Union]] (ACLU) has provided legal support to various factions of the KKK in defense of their [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] rights to hold public rallies, parades, and marches, as well as their right to field political candidates.<ref>{{cite news|title=A.C.L.U. Lawsuit Backs Klan In Seeking Permit for Cross |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 16, 1993 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/16/us/aclu-lawsuit-backs-klan-in-seeking-permit-for-cross.html  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101006202846/http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/16/us/aclu-lawsuit-backs-klan-in-seeking-permit-for-cross.html |archive-date=October 6, 2010}} The [[American Civil Liberties Union|ACLU]] professes a mission to defend the constitutional rights of all groups, whether [[left-wing politics|left]], [[centrism|center]], or right.</ref>
{{anchor|Frank Ancona}}

The February 14, 2019, edition of the [[Linden, Alabama]], weekly newspaper ''[[The Democrat-Reporter]]'' carried an editorial titled "Klan needs to ride again" written by [[Goodloe Sutton]]—the newspaper's owner, publisher and editor—which urged the Klan to return to staging their night rides, because proposals were being made to raise taxes in the state. In an interview, Sutton suggested that Washington, D.C., could be "clean[ed] out" by way of lynchings. "We'll get the hemp ropes out, loop them over a tall limb and hang all of them," Sutton said. He also specified that he was only referring to hanging "socialist-communists" and compared the Klan to the [[NAACP]]. The editorial and Sutton's subsequent comments provoked calls for his resignation from Alabama politicians and the Alabama Press Association, which later censured Sutton and suspended the newspaper's membership. In addition, the [[University of Southern Mississippi]]'s School of Communication removed Sutton—who is an alumnus of that school—from its Mass Communication and Journalism Hall of Fame, and "strongly condemned" his remarks. Sutton was also stripped of a distinguished community journalism award he had been presented in 2009 by [[Auburn University]]'s Journalism Advisory Council.<ref>Criss, Doug and Burnside, Tina (February 20, 2019). "[https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/19/media/alabama-newspaper-klan-trnd/index.html The editor of an Alabama newspaper is calling for the return of the Ku Klux Klan's infamous night rides]" ({{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190222070832/https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/19/media/alabama-newspaper-klan-trnd/index.html |date=February 22, 2019}}). [[CNN]].</ref> Sutton expressed no regret and said that the editorial was intended to be "ironic", but that "not many people understand irony today."<ref>Gore, Leada (February 21, 2019). "[https://www.al.com/news/2019/02/goodloe-sutton-writer-of-kkk-editorial-not-sorry-says-hed-do-it-all-over-again.html Goodloe Sutton, writer of KKK editorial, not sorry, says he'd 'do it all over again']" ({{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190222053000/https://www.al.com/news/2019/02/goodloe-sutton-writer-of-kkk-editorial-not-sorry-says-hed-do-it-all-over-again.html |date=February 22, 2019}}). [[AL.com]].</ref>

=====Current Klan organizations=====
A list is maintained by the [[Anti-Defamation League]] (ADL):<ref name=ADLKKKlist>{{cite web
 |title       = Ku Klux Klan&nbsp;– Extremism in America&nbsp;– Active Groups (by state)
 |website        = adl.org
 |publisher   = [[Anti-Defamation League]]
 |access-date  = March 15, 2011
|year        = 2011
 |url         = http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/active_group_2006.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=kkk
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110212042824/http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/active_group_2006.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=kkk
 |archive-date = February 12, 2011
}}</ref>
* Bayou Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, prevalent in [[Texas]], [[Oklahoma]], [[Arkansas]], [[Louisiana]], and other areas of the Southern U.S.
* Church of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan<ref name=adl-ak-kkk />
* [[Imperial Klans of America]]<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/27665247 | title=No. 2 Klan group on trial in Ky. teen's beating | agency=Associated Press | date=November 11, 2008 | access-date=November 22, 2008 | df=mdy-all | archive-date=October 4, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004232318/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/27665247/ | url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Knights of the White Camelia#Legacy|Knights of the White Camelia]]<ref>{{cite web
 |title=White Camelia Knights of the Ku Klux Klan&nbsp;– Home page
 |website=wckkkk.org
 |publisher=White Camelia Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
 |access-date=March 15, 2011
|year=2011
 |url=http://www.wckkkk.org/
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110208125116/http://www.wckkkk.org/
 |archive-date=February 8, 2011
}}</ref>
* Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, headed by national director and self-claimed pastor [[Thomas Robb (Ku Klux Klan)|Thomas Robb]], and based in [[Harrison, Arkansas|Harrison]] and [[Zinc, Arkansas|Zinc]], [[Arkansas]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.adl.org/main_Extremism/Klan-vs-Rhino-Times.htm |title=Arkansas Klan Group Loses Legal Battle with North Carolina Newspaper |publisher=[[Anti-Defamation League]] |date=July 9, 2009 |access-date=August 15, 2008  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412051638/http://www.adl.org/main_Extremism/Klan-vs-Rhino-Times.htm |archive-date=April 12, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://kkk.bz/frequently-asked-questions/ |title=FAQ{{mdash}}The Knights Party |website=The Knights Party | language=en-US |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190923170746/https://kkk.bz/frequently-asked-questions/ |archive-date=September 23, 2019 |access-date=March 16, 2021 |url-status=usurped}}</ref> It claims to be the largest Klan organization in America today.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/knights-ku-klux-klan|title=Knights of the Ku Klux Klan |work=Southern Poverty Law Center|access-date=September 30, 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001070104/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/knights-ku-klux-klan |archive-date=October 1, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan]], a North Carolina-based group headed by Will Quigg,<ref>{{cite news |first=Robert |last=Tait |title=The KKK leader who says he backs Hillary Clinton |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/12192975/The-KKK-leader-who-says-he-backs-Hillary-Clinton.html |date=March 14, 2016 |access-date=March 15, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314215153/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/12192975/The-KKK-leader-who-says-he-backs-Hillary-Clinton.html |archive-date=March 14, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> is currently thought to be the largest KKK chapter.<ref>{{cite news |first=Max |last=Blau |title='Still a racist nation': American bigotry on full display at KKK rally in South Carolina |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/19/kkk-clashes-south-carolina-racism |date=July 19, 2015 |access-date=March 15, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160317204601/http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/19/kkk-clashes-south-carolina-racism |archive-date=March 17, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan]]